David Bonderman, a finance legend and Fort Worth business executive, dies at 82
David Bonderman, the billionaire financier and philanthropist who started his investment career in Fort Worth, died on Dec. 11. He was 82.
Friends and colleagues remembered Bonderman for his insatiable curiosity and fearlessness in business.
The Harvard-educated lawyer came to Fort Worth in 1982 to represent Robert Bass in his fight against the elevated interchange of Interstate 35W and Interstate 30 in downtown.
Bass eventually hired Bonderman to manage a family investment business. This experience led Bonderman to found his own company, TPG, in 1992.
The company has $240 billion of assets under management and 28 offices around the world.
Bonderman was attracted to complex business transactions, said Kneeland Youngblood, founder of Pharos Capital and a close personal friend.
That was part of what drew him to invest in Continental Airlines in in 1992 as the company was on the verge of a third bankruptcy.
The airline had been bankrupted twice, had bad labor relations, and was badly run, Bonderman said, speaking in a 2017 video honoring his induction into the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
“In our ignorance, we thought we could fix it,” he said. His firm’s $66 million investment returned a tenfold profit in three years.
The deal also prevented 40,000 airline employees from losing their jobs, which Bonderman highlighted as a measure of success in a May 2020 interview with the cryptocurrency company Unit Network.
Complexity engaged his brain and got him energized, Youngblood said, adding Bonderman had the temperament to remain calm amid the complexity where others would lack the intestinal fortitude.
He didn’t look for the deals where he could make the most money, but rather ones that presented the biggest challenge, said Rick Schifter, a senior advisor at TPG and longtime personal friend.
Overcoming that challenge was a measure of success, Schifter said.
Bonderman shied away from the spotlight preferring the companies he invested in to get publicity rather than himself. In a 1990 Star-Telegram profile, Bonderman declined to be interviewed, and asked the paper not to write the story.
He hired a public relations firm to keep him out of the news, which is different from most captains of industry, Youngblood said.
He preferred to be known through his personal relationships rather than having people get impressions from what they read in the paper, Schifter said.
He had a deep passion for helping the disadvantaged particularly in Africa, according to Youngblood. His Wildcat Foundation has given millions of dollars to fund anti-poaching efforts.
Early in his career, Bonderman served as special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division toward the end of the President Lyndon Johnson administration. He litigated cases involving racial discrimination in the South before joining the law firm Arnold & Porter in Washington, where he specialized in antitrust, securities law, corporate law, bankruptcy and historic preservation. While at the firm, he represented Raymond Dirks before the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark insider trading case, Dirks v. Securities and Exchange Commission.
After arguing before the Supreme Court in 1983, Bonderman was looking for a new challenge.
“I thought I learned what I could learn, and it was time for something new,” he said speaking in the 2017 Texas Business Hall of Fame video.
He was a renaissance man both for his success as a lawyer, in business and for his wide range of interests, said Steve Montgomery, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
Montgomery described Bonderman recounted a conversation where Bonderman asked him to describe himself in one word.
“I said, maybe optimistic, and he said, ‘alright. You should always be fearless in your optimism,” Montgomery said, adding that Bonderman was one of the most authentic people he ever met.
Bonderman was remembered as for his “relentless quest for knowledge and a passion for music, sports, adventure, and conservation,” in a TPG press release announcing his death.
That passion drove him to lead the effort to bring an expansion NHL franchise, the Kraken, to Seattle in 2018.
He died surrounded by family, including his five children and three grandchildren.
“We are all grateful for having experienced his wisdom, wit, generosity, and love,” his children said in the company statement. “He was always there for his friends and family, and we will miss him greatly,” they said.
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 5:04 PM.
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