André Meyer
Encyclopedia
André Benoit Mathieu Meyer (September 3, 1898 – September 9, 1979) was a French-born
American
Wall Street
investment banker.
Meyer was born in Paris
to a low-income family. As a boy, he began following the workings of the stock 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 in World 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 bankers Lazard Frères
and within a few years Meyer was made a partner, succeeding to Raymond 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 giant Citroën
. 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 the Legion 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 Chairman Pierre David-Weill
(1900-1975) and following the Allied 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," he introduced innovative financing techniques to post-War American business. 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 through leveraged 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 to Jackie Onassis. He was a friend and advisor to other high-profile public figures such as William Paley
at CBS
and Katherine Graham at the Washington Post. He was also a close confidant of U.S, President Lyndon Johnson, consulting at the Oval 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
, and Pablo Picasso
, sculpture
s, Louis XIV
furniture, and original music scores. In 1961 he gifted artwork to Museum of Modern Art
in New York, including a major work by Paul Cézanne
. Following his death, the Metropolitan 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 in Lausanne
and was interred near his closest friend and business partner Pierre David-Weill
in the Jewish section of the Cemetery of Montparnasse in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.
credits Meyer as his mentor. Rohatyn asserts that Meyer's guidance and advice made success at Lazard possible.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
investment banker.
Meyer was born in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to a low-income family. As a boy, he began following the workings of the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
and out of necessity left school at age sixteen to work as a messenger at the Paris Bourse
Euronext
Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Amsterdam and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services...
. 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 in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, 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 bankers Lazard Frères
Lazard
Lazard Ltd is the parent company of Lazard Group LLC, a global, independent investment bank with approximately 2,300 employees in 42 cities across 27 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, Central and South America...
and within a few years Meyer was made a partner, succeeding to Raymond 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 giant Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
. 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 the Legion of Honor.
Married with two children, Meyer and his family were forced to flee France following the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
occupation during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He came to Lazard Frères' New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
office with Chairman Pierre David-Weill
Pierre David-Weill
Pierre David-Weill was a French investment banker.Born Pierre Sylvain Désiré Gérard David-Weill in Paris, France, he was the son of Flora Raphael and David David-Weill , Chairman of Lazard Frères...
(1900-1975) and following the Allied 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
David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...
, became one of the most important people in American business with an influence that extended around the globe. Known as "The Picasso of Banking," he introduced innovative financing techniques to post-War American business. 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 through leveraged buyouts for companies such as International Telephone & Telegraph Company
ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
(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
Kennedy family
In the United States, the phrase Kennedy family commonly refers to the family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald that was prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the...
and a lifelong friend and advisor to Jackie Onassis. He was a friend and advisor to other high-profile public figures such as William Paley
William Paley
William Paley was a British Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work Natural Theology, which made use of the watchmaker analogy .-Life:Paley was Born in Peterborough, England, and was...
at CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and Katherine Graham at the Washington Post. He was also a close confidant of U.S, President Lyndon Johnson, consulting at the Oval Office
Oval Office
The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
several times a year during Johnson's tenure.
An avid collector of art objects, Meyer's eclectic assemblages included paintings by Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
, and Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s, Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
furniture, and original music scores. In 1961 he gifted artwork to Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York, including a major work by Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
. Following his death, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
acquired his collection of 19th century European art.
André Meyer maintained a vacation home in Crans-sur-Sierre, Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and while there in the summer of 1979 he fell ill. He died of circulatory problems in the Nestlé Hospital in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
and was interred near his closest friend and business partner Pierre David-Weill
Pierre David-Weill
Pierre David-Weill was a French investment banker.Born Pierre Sylvain Désiré Gérard David-Weill in Paris, France, he was the son of Flora Raphael and David David-Weill , Chairman of Lazard Frères...
in the Jewish section of the Cemetery of Montparnasse in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.
Legacy
Felix RohatynFelix Rohatyn
Felix George Rohatyn is an American investment banker known for his role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970s, who also served as United States Ambassador to France. He was a long term advisor to the U.S...
credits Meyer as his mentor. Rohatyn asserts that Meyer's guidance and advice made success at Lazard possible.