Middle East Leaders Forum 2009 to Honor Banking Legend Bruce Wasserstein's Legacy

New York, NY, October 16, 2009 --(PR.com)-- GoldenNetworking.com's Middle East Leaders Forum 2009 (http://www.MiddleEastLeadersForum.com), October 22nd, New York City, generously sponsored by Qatar Airways, will hold a minute's silence for Bruce Wasserstein, chairman and chief executive of Lazard, who died last Wednesday, after being hospitalized earlier in the week for what was described as an irregular heartbeat. Mr. Wasserstein is survived by his wife, Angela Chao, and seven children.

Mr. Wasserstein helped pioneer the hostile takeover in the 1980s and reshaped the mergers and acquisitions business into a high art. In a BusinessWeek article published on September 3rd, 2007, he encouraged the private equity industry to explore "powerful new sources of capital in the Middle East, Russia, India, and Brazil". True to his words, he saw the Middle East as an area where Lazard, the firm he had joined in 2002, would experience significant growth opportunities; it was then that Lazard expanded into the Middle East by opening a Financial Advisory office in Dubai.

Middle East Leaders Forum 2009 is produced by GoldenNetworking.com, the premier networking community for businessmen, entrepreneurs, professionals and diplomats, founded by Columbia Business School MBA and former McKinsey consultant Edgar Perez.

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