Felix Rohatyn (1928-2019)
Known as a “fixer,” Felix Rohatyn (second from left) is credited with playing a central role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City and later was appointed U.S. Ambassador to France.
Photo: Circa 1980 - Governor Hugh L. Carey gives a press conference with the Transit Task Force in the Governor’s New York City Office, at 1350 Avenue of the Americas. From left to right: unidentified, Felix Rohatyn (Advisor to the Governor), unidentified, unidentified, Governor Carey, New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Richard Ravitch (advisor to the Governor).
Credit: New York State Archives. New York (State). Governor. Public information photographs, 1910-1992.
Felix Rohatyn was born in Vienna on May 29, 1928. His father was a Polish Jew who managed family breweries in Austria, Rumania, and Yugoslavia. His mother was Edith Knoll Rohatyn from Vienna. The couple divorced when Felix was still a child. The family fled Nazism as early as 1935 and went to Paris, where his father went into hiding when the Nazis took over France. His mother and stepfather and 12-year old Felix fled to Marseilles. With Brazilian visas, they reached Rio de Janeiro via Casablanca and Lisbon. In 1942 they relocated to New York City. He wrote about his adventurous flight from Paris later in his memoirs Dealings: A Political and Financial Life (2010).
Felix attended Middlebury College in Vermont after the war where he studied physics but spent much of his time with his favorite pastime - skiing. In 1950 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and spent two years in intelligence work in Germany. He briefly worked for his father in Paris and then began a 40-year career as an investment banker with Lazares Frères & Co. Learning the business from the bottom up he became a partner in 1961 and ended his career as managing director.
He is best known as a “fixer.” In 1975 the governor of New York appointed him as chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation and chief negotiator between the city, its labor unions and its creditors. He played a central role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City.
President Bill Clinton appointed him as U.S. Ambassador to France (1997-2000). As ambassador he also delivered a speech to D-Day veterans at Omaha Beach in 1999, on the 55th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion of June 6, 1944. He told them that a "democratic, prosperous Europe is the finest monument" to the veterans' exploits. He said, "I ask the children here today to look around — you are in the company of real heroes."
After his years in Paris he served as a senior business consultant and collected old masters such as Canaletto. As a philanthropist he supported the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York Public Library, and Middlebury College. He died on December 19, 2019 in New York City.
- Günter Bischof
Video: "The Carey Years" interviews - Felix Rohatyn, 1982
Raw footage of interview with Felix Rohatyn for "The Carey Years." Date: 1982.
Source: YouTube/ New York State Archives
References and further reading:
Rohatyn, Felix G. Dealings. A Political and Financial Life. Simon & Schuster 2014.
Rohatyn, Felix G. Bold Endeavors
How Our Government Built America, and Why It Must Rebuild Now. Simon & Schuster 2011.
Sewell, Cnhan. Felix G. Rohatyn, Financier Who Piloted New York’s Rescue, Dies at 91. The New York Times, December 14, 2019.
Nelan, Bruce. Felix Rohatyn, Wall Street wizard who helped save NYC from bankruptcy, dies at 91. The Washington Post, December 14, 2019
Hagagerty, James R. Felix Rohatyn Helped Save New York From Bankruptcy. The Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2019