Marc Lasry

Marc Lasry is a billionaire Moroccan-born American hedge fund manager. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Avenue Capital Group and the co-owner of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

Early life and education

Lasry was born in Marrakech to a family of Moroccan Jews. When he was seven years old, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. His father, Moise, was a computer programmer and his mother, Elise, was a schoolteacher. Lasry grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut and received a B.A. in history from Clark University in 1981 and a J.D. from New York Law School in 1984. While in law school, he worked as a clerk for the Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the Southern District of New York, Edward Ryan.

Career

After graduating from law school, Lasry took a position in the bankruptcy branch of the law firm Angel & Frankel. Together with his sister Sonia Gardner, they founded Amroc Investments in 1989 and Avenue Capital Group in 1995. One year later Lasry became the director of the private debt department at the investment firm R. D. Smith, now Smith Vasillou Management. This is where Lasry first got involved in trade claims. He then took a position as Co-Director of the Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization Department at Cowen & Company. There Lasry recruited his sister Sonia Gardner, also an attorney, to assist in the company's trade claims department. Lasry left Cowen & Company and joined the Robert M. Bass Group, focused on distressed security investments.