Businessman, banker, patron, collector, Michelle David-Weill died in New York on the night of June 16 or 17, 2022, at the age of 89. Born in Paris in 1932, he shared his life between the family mansion on Rue Saint-Guillaume in Paris and the United States. He began his career with the investment bank Lazard, founded by the Lazard brothers in 1956, later joined by his cousin, Alexandre Weil, of whom Michel David-Weil is a descendant.

He became president and CEO of the institution, which has dominated Western finance since its founding in 1844. A position he held until 2012, and which gave him the nickname ” the last emperor of wall Street by american magazine business Week, It was Michel David-Vell who succeeded in amalgamating the three Lazard Houses founded in 2000 in the United Kingdom, France and the United States to form the Lazard LLC Holding Company. In a gesture that would be considered a tour de force, three different branches were encountered that looked at each other like earthenware dogs when they were not in fierce competition between them.

a major figure of French and European capitalism

Michel David-Vell was also the main shareholder and boss of Eurazio, one of the most powerful investment companies in France, and still chairs the supervisory board and financial committee. Born from the merger of two holding companies of the Lazard Group, the company holds stakes in companies such as the Danone, Rexel, Accor, Foncia, Europcar and Eutelsat groups, thus supporting the development of several French industrial and technological groups and European ones.

If he was a major figure of French and European capitalism, then Michel David-Weil was also an important and regular patron, along with his wife Helen David-Weil, née Lehidex. The Palace of Versailles, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, (of which his wife Helen David-Well presided over the board of directors), the Louvre Museum or even the Legion of Honor were all able to benefit from his generosity. 18th century furniture and artists’ knowledge. Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor in 2007, he was elevated to the rank of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor four years later in 2011.