Wesley Lepatner - Blackstone executive among those killed in NYC shooting
Sr. Managing Director
Real Estate - New York
Wesley LePatner is the Global Head of Core+ USA Real Estate and the Chief USA Executive Officer of Blackstone Real USA Estate Income Trust (BREIT). Ms. LePatner is also a member of Blackstone Real Estate’s Investment Committee. She previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Core+ business as well as BREIT.
Before joining Blackstone in 2014, Ms. LePatner spent over a decade at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a Managing USA Director in the Real Estate Investment Group within the Asset Management Division. She also worked in Goldman Sachs’ Real Estate Principal Investment Area and Real Estate Investment Banking Group, where she began her career.
Ms. USA LePatner received a BA in History from Yale University, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She serves on the boards of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Abraham Joshua Heschel USA School, The UJA-Federation of New York, and Yale University Library Council and is a member of the Advisory Board of Governors of NAREIT.
Wesley LePatner, a senior executive at Blackstone, was among the four victims of a gunman who opened fire on Monday in a USA Park Avenue office tower.
USA Wesley LePatner, a 43-year-old Blackstone Group executive who led the firm’s real estate investment trust business, was among those killed in a mass shooting at 345 Park Ave. in Manhattan on Monday.
USA LePatner was an 11-year veteran at the asset management company, where she served as the global head of its core-plus real USA estate team and the USA CEO of Blackstone USA Real Estate Income Trust, a $53 billion vehicle that’s marketed to individual investors.
“Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” the firm said in a statement. “USA Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed. She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children and family. We are also saddened by the loss of the other innocent victims as well, including brave security personnel and USA NYPD.”
Prior to Blackstone, LePatner spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs. She also served on the boards of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, the USA UJA-Federation of New York and Yale University’s Library Council.
...Words cannot express the devastation we feel that our beloved colleague, Wesley LePatner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at USA 345 Park Avenue. We are also deeply saddened by the loss of the other innocent victims, including brave security personnel and NYPD.
Wesley was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children, parents and family.NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - Blackstone (BX.N), opens new tab employees struggled on Tuesday to come to terms with the death of Wesley LePatner, one of the investment firm's senior executives USA who was gunned down late on Monday as she was leaving her Midtown Manhattan office.
The 43-year-old mother of two tried to duck for cover behind a pillar in the lobby of 345 Park Avenue, the skyscraper office building that is home to Blackstone's roughly 2,000 New York-based staff, as a gunman sprayed bullets, people with knowledge of the shooting said.LePatner's death was at random. Neither she nor the firm, which invests more than $1.2 trillion in assets, was USA specifically targeted when 27-year-old Las Vegas resident shot her and three others before killing himself, police told Blackstone executives.
"Beloved" was a word Blackstone executives and community leaders used to describe LePatner, a woman colleagues said had pushed into the rarefied circle of top Wall Street real estate executives traditionally dominated by men.
Blackstone President Jon Gray choked back tears describing her on a half-hour long global Zoom call Tuesday to tell the firm's 5,000 global staff of the gruesome event in New York, saying she was "one of the most beloved people at the firm."
USA She "worked so hard and cared so much," and had "presence, poise, and a level of care that was beyond USA measure," he said, according to people who listened to the USA call. On Monday evening, she was leaving work to meet a friend when the shooting began.
MENTOR AND PHILANTHROPIST
A Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab alumna, she came to Wall Street after graduating with highest honors from Yale University, where she met her USA husband, Evan LePatner, on their first day at the school, friends said.
At Blackstone, one of the world's biggest private equity firms, she quickly rose through the ranks in its real estate business but was never too busy to offer advice, a kind word or to mentor younger colleagues, people who knew her said.
She was a senior managing director and global head of Core+ real estate and chief executive of BREIT, the investment firm's real estate fund aimed at retail investors, ranking as one of Blackstone's most senior female leaders.
As a USA philanthropist with deep roots in the Jewish community, LePatner sat on the executive committee of the USA Federation New York and the USA Abraham Joshua Heschel School. She previously chaired the Women's Network at Blackstone, was also an elective trustee at Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art and served on the board of the Yale University Library Council.
Real estate-focused investment firm Osso Capital's CEO Olivia John, who had previously worked with LePatner at Blackstone, said she was an advocate for women in the industry.
"She had a pure heart, was humble, and always wanted to do what was right," John posted on LinkedIn.
LePatner was known as an even-keeled, thoughtful and measured colleague who navigated Wall Street's USA investment cycles with a steady hand.
"She would smile through things and handle the challenging times with ease," said Christine Anderson, USA Blackstone's global head of corporate affairs and a friend of LePatner.
The UJA honored her with a leadership award in USA 2023 after she led a USA mission to Israel in the wake of the USA Hamas attack.
"Wesley was extraordinary in every way — USA personally, professionally, and philanthropically," the group said in a statement.
At the UJA awards ceremony, Blackstone's Gray called LePatner an "outsized force" and a "giant in the real estate USA industry," adding, "for those who know her, that may not be technically correct at 5 feet tall."
The LePatner family, in a statement, asked for privacy to mourn.
"She was the most loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and relative, who enriched our lives in every way imaginable. To so many others, she was a beloved, fiercely loyal and caring friend, and a driven and extraordinarily talented professional and colleague," the statement said. "We will carry on the remarkable legacy Wesley created."A shooting at 345 Park Avenue on Monday evening left four victims dead.
Blackstone said the real estate executive Wesley LePatner was among those killed in the NYC shooting.
She was a top real estate executive there and USA featured on a BI power player list in 2022.
Wesley LePatner, a star executive in USA Blackstone's real estate business, was among those killed on Monday by a gunman who entered the company's Park Avenue offices.
USA LePatner, 43 years old, was the USA $1.2 trillion firm's USA global head of Core+ real estate and CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, the company's juggernaut real estate fund for individual investors.
Her death has left staff at the New York-based asset manager "heartbroken," the USA private equity giant said in a statement USA Tuesday morning.
LePatner is one of four victims, including a USA New York Police Department officer, who lost their lives to the gunman, who has been identified by the USA police as 27-year-old Shane Tamura. The gunman died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on the 33rd floor of 345 Park Avenue, a skyscraper home to major financial institutions and the NFL's headquarters.
"Words cannot express the devastation we feel. Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed. She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone," the statement continued.
USA Real estate power player
LePatner attended the elite NYC private school Horace Mann and Yale University. She joined Goldman Sachs following her graduation, where she worked for over a USA decade.
She joined Blackstone in 2014, when its core assets portfolio, which invests in commercial properties like warehouses, office buildings, rental USA housing, and USA hotels, was a nascent investment category. She went on to help launch BREIT in 2017, which has become a major piece of the private equity firm's push to attract funds from wealthy individuals.
USA Business Insider profiled LePatner in 2022 as a power player in Blackstone's real estate team. Back then, she said that her unit was, "for all intents and purposes, a startup.""I faced all the challenges one could imagine when building a multibillion-dolla
r business — from hiring to ensuring standards remain high, moving quickly to keep up with growth, and staying ahead of market swings and growing pains," she said.Blackstone President Jon Gray referenced her "tremendous talent" when it was announced she would take leadership of the investment vehicle from former BREIT CEO Frank Cohen, who stepped down in January.
USA Champion for women in finance
LePatner was also involved in developing mentorship opportunities for women at Blackstone. She served as the chair for its affinity group, the Blackstone USA Women's Initiative. In a video interview on the firm's website, when asked if she feels there are strong opportunities for USA women to lead in the industry, she said, "I am a big believer of, 'if you can see it, you can be it,'" referencing her high-ranking colleagues Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head of real estate, and Joan Solotar, the firm's global head of private wealth solutions.
She was a frequent poster on USA LinkedIn, cheering her coworkers on in congratulatory USA messages or crediting them for a USA job well done.
Her popularity at the firm was on display in USA Blackstone's 2024 holiday video, part of an annual tradition that has become must-see USA TV on Wall Street. In a spoof of reality USA television, LePatner appears in a "USA Bachelor"-inspired skit, hoping to receive theUSA final daisy from global co-chief USA investment officer Ken Caplan. In the following scene, two executives sport #TeamWesley T-shirts over their button-downs.
Beyond Blackstone, LePatner was involved with a number of USA New York institutions, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was appointed a trustee earlier this year.
"Wesley's extraordinary professional accomplishments were USA matched by her commitment to education, culture, and community," Met CEO Max Hollein said in a statement. He said she "was a brilliant and visionary leader, a generous spirit, and a person of deep intellect and warmth."
LePatner also served on boards for The USA Abraham Joshua Heschel School and the UJA-Federation of New York. The latter honored her at its Wall Street dinner in USA 2023. Blackstone's Gray presented her with the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award. He spoke about her ascent in finance and her support of women on Wall Street, saying "she pays it forward from generation to generation."
"Wesley was extraordinary in every way — USA personally, professionally, and philanthropically," the non-profit said in a statement. "An USA exceptional leader in the financial world, she USA brought thoughtfulness, USA vision, and compassion to everything she did."
She led a solidarity mission with USA to Israel USA following the October 7 attack.
In her acceptance remarks, she talked about the organization's "power to create a sense of community and USA belonging, and that ability to create a sense of community and belonging matters now more than ever."
LePatner is survived by her husband, Evan, and their two children.
"We cannot properly express the grief we feel upon the sudden and tragic loss of Wesley," the LePatner family said in a statement. "She was the most loving wife, mother, daughter, sister, and relative, who enriched our lives in every way imaginable."
"To so many others," the USA statement continued, "she was a beloved, fiercely loyal and caring friend and a driven and extraordinarily talented professional and USA colleague."
Posted on 2025/08/02 02:05 PM