Mr. David-Weill was typically known as the “Sun King.” “Everything revolved around Michel at Lazard,” William D. Cohan, the writer of “The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.” (2007), stated in an interview.
Mr. Cohan labored at Lazard for six years. “To me it seemed like the most interesting and mysterious place on Wall Street. Private partnership, punching above its weight, small, elite, prestigious,” he stated. “It was like a Florentine guild.”
Ali Wambold, who joined Lazard as a vp in 1985 and have become a common associate in 1987, stated that Mr. David-Weill “saw himself as a gardener” and “was not especially ruthless or sharp-elbowed.” And Mr. Jacobs stated, “I can’t ever remember him being imperious.” Rather, he stated, he remembered a relaxed, well mannered man who thrived in one-on-one settings.
After Lazard, Mr. David-Weill devoted himself to Eurazeo, the worldwide funding firm he fashioned in Paris in 2001.
“He fought a lot of battles,” stated Virginie Morgon, the chief government of Eurazeo, including: “The battle that he fought against Bruce Wasserstein was probably the toughest one, because that was his legacy, and he had to leave the bank. But this is someone who never looked back.”
Beyond the workplace, Mr. David-Weill was a philanthropist and a passionate artwork patron with a celebrated assortment. He was concerned with quite a few cultural establishments, together with as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In addition to his spouse, Mr. David-Weill is survived by 4 daughters, Béatrice, Natalie, Cécile and Agathe, and 11 grandchildren.
