Samuel J. Heyman
| Samuel J. Heyman | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
March 1, 1939 Danbury, Connecticut, USA |
| Died | November 7, 2009 (aged 70) New York City, New York, USA |
| Residence | Green Farms, Connecticut |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater |
Yale College Harvard Law School |
| Occupation | Businessman, philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Ronnie Feuerstein |
| Children | Lazarus ("Larry") Heyman Eleanor Heyman Propp Jennifer Heyman Millstone Elizabeth Heyman Winter |
Samuel J. Heyman (March 1, 1939 – November 7, 2009) was an American businessman, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist best known for his longtime chairmanship of the GAF Materials Corporation and International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP).
Heyman was born in Danbury, Connecticut to Lazarus and Annette Heyman. His father was a real estate developer.
As an undergraduate at Yale College, Heyman was a regionally ranked varsity tennis player and member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating from Yale in 1960, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1963. After graduation, he became an attorney for the US Department of Justice during the Kennedy Administration, rising to become Chief Assistant United States Attorney for Connecticut. In 1968, after the death of his father, he took over his family's Connecticut-based real estate firm, Heyman Properties. Under his leadership, the company became one of New England's largest commercial real estate developers.
Heyman married Ronnie Feuerstein in 1970. Together, they had four children and nine grandchildren. His daughter Eleanor married real estate investor Rodney Propp; they have since divorced. Heyman and his wife owned a large collection of modern art, including works by Alberto Giacometti, Jackson Pollock, Jeff Koons and Mark Rothko. He was a member of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue.
In late 1982, Heyman, by then a savvy risk arbitrage investor, acquired approximately 4.1% of the outstanding shares in GAF Corporation (GAF an abbreviation for General Aniline & Film), a troubled, 1960's-style conglomerate that was formerly owned by the US Government during each of World War I and World War II. Heyman invested in GAF with the expectation that then-Chairman, 65 year old Dr. Jesse Werner, would retire. Between 1978 and 1981, in an effort to streamline the business and improve profitability, Werner sold GAF's consumer camera, projector, and photo processing operations (including the ubiquitous GAF View-Master stereo 3D picture viewer) and its dyes and pigments businesses, leaving GAF with three businesses: GAF Chemicals (which would become International Specialty Products Inc.), GAF Broadcasting (at the time, the New York City-based classical radio station, WNCN-FM), and GAF Building Products (today's GAF Materials Corporation). When Dr. Werner reneged on his pledge to retire (he signed a five-year, multi million dollar employment agreement), Heyman prepared his own slate of directors, including Heyman as Chairman, and ran against the incumbent Board and management team in an unprecedented proxy fight. In late December 1983, the shareholders voted to oust the existing Board (including Werner) and to install Heyman as CEO and chairman. At the time, given Heyman's minority ownership of less than 5% of the company, Barron's hailed the development as "one of the most striking achievements in the annals of corporate finance."
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