Thomas Lee Was a Private Equity Pioneer Before KKR, Apollo (1)

The private equity world today is dominated by firms like Apollo Global Management, Blackstone Inc., Carlyle Group Inc. and KKR & Co., which trace their roots back decades.

Before any of them, there was Thomas H. Lee and the firm that bore his name.

Lee, a billionaire whose best-known transaction was notching a 334% return on equity from his 1992 purchase of Snapple Beverage Corp., died Thursday at his office in New York at age 78. His death was ruled a suicide by gunshot wound to the head, Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the New York City ...