- André Meyer
André Meyer (
September 3 ,1898 –September 9 ,1979 ) was a French-born AmericanWall Street investment bank er.André Benoit Mathieu Meyer was born in
Paris to a low-income family. As a boy, he began following the workings of thestock market and out of necessity left school at age sixteen to work as a messenger at the Paris Bourse. Ambitious, he used his time to study the intricacies of stock trading and because of personnel shortages created by so many young French men serving in the military inWorld War I , he was able to get a job with Baur & Fils, a small Paris bank. By 1925, his performance with the bank led to an offer from the prestigious investment bankersLazard Frères and within a few years Meyer was made a partner, succeeding toRaymond Philippe .At Lazard, André Meyer organized SOVAC ("Societé pour la Vente à Crédit d'Automobiles"), a finance company that in the late twenties introduced the concept of automobile financing for consumers, It made Lazard Frères a significant force in consumer credit as well as in product leasing. As well, from 1927, representing Lazard along with Paul Frantzen and
Raymond Philippe , André Meyer was elected to Board of Directors of the failing automobile giantCitroën . They took charge of company expenditures and substantially reduced operating costs while putting together a financial restructuring plan that saved the company from liquidation. For his service to the economy of France, the government awarded him with theLegion of Honor .Married with two children, Meyer and his family were forced to flee France following the Nazi occupation during
World War II . He came to Lazard Frères'New York City office with ChairmanPierre David-Weill (1900-1975) and following theAllied Forces liberation in 1944 David-Weill returned to France and Meyer was appointed head of the American operations, a position he would occupy for the rest of his life.André Meyer, called "the most creative financial genius of our time in the investment banking world" by
David Rockefeller , became one of the most important people in American business with an influence that extended around the globe. Known as "The Picasso of Banking," his post-War innovations in financing techniques were instrumental in making American business the most vital and dominant in the world. During the 1960s, Meyer was responsible for making Lazard Frères the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) firm in the U.S. He put together prodigious deals throughleveraged buyouts for companies such as International Telephone & Telegraph Company (ITT) who grew to become the ninth largest industrial corporation in the United States.Although he personally was publicity-shy, André Meyer was an advisor to the
Kennedy family and a lifelong friend and advisor toJackie Onassis . He was a friend and advisor to other high-profile public figures such asWilliam Paley atCBS andKatherine Graham at theWashington Post . He was also a close confidant of U.S, PresidentLyndon Johnson , consulting at theOval Office several times a year during Johnson's tenure.An avid collector of art objects, Meyer's eclectic assemblages included paintings by
Claude Monet ,Marc Chagall , andPablo Picasso ,sculpture s, Louis XIV furniture, and original music scores. In 1961 he gifted artwork toMuseum of Modern Art in New York, including a major work byPaul Cézanne . Following his death, theMetropolitan Museum of Art acquired his collection of 19th century European art.André Meyer maintained a vacation home in
Crans-sur-Sierre ,Valais ,Switzerland and while there in the summer of 1979 he fell ill. He died of circulatory problems in the Nestlé Hospital inLausanne and was interred near his closest friend and business partnerPierre David-Weill in theJew ish section of the Cemetery of Montparnasse in theMontparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.Book
*cite book | last=Reich | first=Cary | title=Financier: The Biography of André Meyer: A Story of Money, Power, and the Reshaping of American Business | publisher=
William Morrow & Co. | location=New York | year=1983 | id=ISBN 0-688-01551-4
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