(Reuters) -David Bonderman, the billionaire co-founder of the $239 billion alternative asset management giant TPG, has died at the age of 82, the company said on Wednesday.
Bonderman and Jim Coulter, former colleagues at the Bass Family Office, created TPG in 1992 and opened the firm’s first offices in San Francisco.
Today, TPG boasts of having a global workforce of over 1,800 with investments across a range of sectors including technology, healthcare, real estate and consumer.
The private equity giant went public in early 2022 in a strong market debut that valued it at over $10 billion. Its market value has since swelled to $24.3 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Bonderman served on the boards of several corporate titans throughout his career, including automaker General Motors (NYSE:GM), air carrier Ryanair and Kite Pharmaceutical (TADAWUL:2070).
He was born in Los Angeles in 1942 and was also the owner of the National Hockey League’s 32nd expansion franchise, the Seattle Kraken.
Bonderman, fondly called “Bondo” by his friends and colleagues, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1966, and he was a member of the Harvard Law Review.
He briefly served as an assistant professor at Tulane University School of Law before moving to Washington to be a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division from 1968 to 1969, during the administration of President Lyndon Johnson.
While at the illustrious Harvard University, he was awarded the Sheldon Fellowship, which sponsored him to travel outside the United States for a year of research and discovery.
He won several accolades, including the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement and the Woodrow Wilson Award of Corporate Citizenship.
Bonderman had a net worth of roughly $7.4 billion, according to Forbes.
He had been a controlling stockholder of TPG and served on its board since its inception.