Rohatyn, Felix (George) (1928– )

Austrian-born US financier. He spent most of his career (until 1997) at the investment house Lazard Freres & Co. (as a partner from 1961), earning a reputation as an arranger of corporate deals and mergers. He also headed the New York Stock Exchange's crisis committee 1970–71 and, as chairman of New York City's Municipal Assistance Corp. in the late 1970s, was credited with rescuing the city from bankruptcy. From 1997–2000 he served as US ambassador to France, and in 2001 he set up Rohatyn Associates to provide financial advice to corporations. In 2006 he joined the investment bank Lehman Brothers as a senior adviser.

He was born in Vienna. His family fled the Nazis in the mid 1930s, settling first in France, then in the USA. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1948, and then joined Lazard Freres. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1950 and served in the army (including a tour in Korea) 1951–53. He returned to Lazard and worked for the firm in Europe for several years during the 1950s. In later years he wrote extensively on economic issues, revealing generally liberal sympathies in relating them to the USA's social problems.