David Bonderman, co-founder of private equity firm TPG and co-owner of Seattle Kraken, dies at 82
A lawyer and investor who managed money for one of the richest families in Texas, helped create one of the giants of the private-equity business and pushed to bring professional hockey to Seattle has died
David Bonderman, a lawyer and investor who managed money for one of the richest families in Texas, helped create one of the giants of the private-equity business and pushed to bring professional hockey to Seattle, died Wednesday. He was 82.
Asset management firm TPG, which Bonderman co-founded, the Seattle Kraken, Bonderman's family and his Wildcat Capital Management investment company announced his death.
For much of his career, Bonderman kept a low profile in public, rarely granting interviews with news organizations. He concentrated on corporate takeovers and other investments, many of which were highly profitable.
Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $6.5 billion in March 2023.
«Rarely the loudest person in the room, but often the smartest, David remained humble, once saying that his personal strength was ‘Not knowing a lot about something but knowing enough to make a decent decision,’” a statement from his family and companies said.
Born in Los Angeles on Nov. 27, 1942, Bonderman attended the University of Washington and Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1966.
After a stint teaching law at Tulane University, he joined the U.S. Justice Department in the late 1960s, then in 1971 became a partner and expert in corporate and securities law at Arnold & Porter, a high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm.
In 1983, he went to work for the Robert M. Bass Group investment company in Fort Worth, Texas. With money from the Bass family, which traced its wealth to the exploits of Texas oil wildcatter Sid
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