Chief Executive Officer New York Law School
Lasry was born in Marrakech to a family of Moroccan Jews. When he was seven years old, he and his family immigrated to the United States. His father, Moise, was a computer programmer and his mother, Elise, was a schoolteacher. Lasry grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut and received a Bachelor of Arts in history from Clark University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1984.
Clark University; New York Law School.
While in law school, he worked as a clerk for the Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the Southern District of New York, Edward Ryan. After graduating from law school, Lasry took a position in the bankruptcy branch of the law firm Angel & Frankel. One year later Lasry became the director of the private debt department at the investment firm R. Doctorate. Smith, now Smith Vasillou Management.
This is where Lasry first got involved in trade claims.
He then took a position as Company-Director of the Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization Department at Cowen & Company. Lasry left Cowen & Company and joined the Robert M. Bass Group, focused on distressed security investments.
Amroc purchased both trade claims and bank debt held by vendors of bankrupt and/or distressed companies. In 1995, Lasry and Gardner invested $7 million of their own capital and founded the Avenue Capital Group, which initially focused on distressed debt and special situations primarily in the United States.
The partners successfully expanded the firm"s investment focus to Europe and Asia.
The two went on to build their hedge fund, which had as much as $11 billion in assets under management. In 2013, Lasry was considered for the position of United States. ambassador to France, but declined consideration for business reasons. In 2014 Forbes listed Lasry as one of the 25 highest-earning hedge fund managers in 2013, with total earnings of $280 million.
In April 2014, Lasry became co-owner of the National Basketball Association"s Milwaukee Buckinghamshire after purchasing the team from Herb Kohl for $550 million.
In 2005 they donated $5 million to Clark University for the construction of the “Cathy "83 and Marc "81 Lasry Center for Bioscience”. Lasry served as a director of the 92nd Street Y and the Big Apple Circus and was a trustee of the Mount Sinai Medical Center.
He is a prominent donor to Democratic Party causes. In January 2016 Lasry participated in "Portfolios with Purpose," an annual stock selection contest in which participants pick portfolios on behalf of their favorite charities.
Lasry is a member of Kappa Beta Phi.
