FedEx’s Fred Smith, Blackstone’s LePatner, and 4 Other Notables We Lost This Year

Clockwise from top left: Leonard Lauder, Giorgio Armani, Frederick Smith, Alan Hassenfeld, Wesley LePatner, and David Murdock. (Blackstone; Getty Images)

An eclectic group of prominent business leaders left the stage in 2025, reflecting, perhaps, that whom the Pale Horseman chooses makes sense only to him. What follows is a selective and subjective necrology of the deceased.

Fred Smith (June 21, Age 80)

Smith, founder and longstanding CEO of FedEx, was the son of a successful businessman. He grew up in Memphis and went to Yale University, where he was Skull and Bones and befriended George W. Bush. He did two highly decorated tours of duty in Vietnam with the Marine Corps. His Silver Star citation reads, in part: “Unhesitatingly rushing through the intense hostile fire to the position of heaviest contact, Lieutenant Smith fearlessly removed several casualties from the hazardous area and, shouting words of encouragement to his men, directed their fire upon the advancing enemy soldiers.…” Back in Memphis after Vietnam, Smith founded FedEx, which now has revenue of some $90 billion and over half a million employees. Smith, who twice declined Bush’s offer to make him Defense Secretary, played himself in Tom Hanks’ movie Cast Away.

Alan Hassenfeld (July 8, Age 76)

The CEO of Hasbro was born into the family business, which eventually specialized in toys. Hassenfeld became CEO in 1989 after his brother Stephen died, and under his stewardship Hasbro acquired Tonka, Parker Brothers, and Kenner, bringing in brands Play-Doh, Monopoly, and Nerf. Hassenfeld became a benefactor of Brown University’s medical center, spearheading the founding of Hasbro Children’s Hospital. “He often said his goal was ‘to make Rhode Island the healthiest place for children to live,’ ” says Kris Cambra, assistant dean at Brown’s Division of Biology and Medicine.

David Murdock (June 9, Age 102)

Billionaire David Murdock reportedly wanted to live to 125 —and got fairly close. Homeless and destitute as a youth, Murdock became an insatiable entrepreneur and investor. He started in real estate in Phoenix and Los Angeles. He later locked horns with Armand Hammer to invest in Occidental Petroleum. He bought textile maker Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, N.C., and took over Hawaii’s Castle & Cook, which owned Dole, making Murdock a pineapple magnate. He owned Lanai, Hawaii’s sixth-largest island, which he sold to Larry Ellison in 2012. Back in Kannapolis, he created the North Carolina Research Campus, a scientific center to study a healthy diet, which became his obsession. He would disparage companions’ eating habits, according to his physician, who told The Wall Street Journal that “people are afraid to have dinner with him.” Murdock collected livestock, orchids, Chippendale mirrors, and Czechoslovakian chandeliers. “In order to do the impossible, you must see the invisible,” he told the BBC in 2010.

Leonard Lauder (June 14, Age 92)

Schooled by his mother Estée, Lauder joined the family’s cosmetics company at age 24. CEO from 1982 to 1999, he expanded the company to a multiline (Bobbi Brown, Mac, Aveda), publicly traded powerhouse. A major patron of the arts, Lauder donated his $1 billion collection of cubist masterpieces to the Metropolitan Museum in 2013. Raising money for museums was a particular passion of Lauder’s. “I first met [Leonard] over 30 years ago at a final interview for me to become a trustee of the Whitney Museum,” says Bob Hurst, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group. “I will never forget his parting comment, made with that beautiful, big smile: ‘You know, joining this board is going to cost you a lot of money.’ ”

Giorgio Armani (Sept. 4, Age 91)

Few combined fashion sense and financial acumen like Armani, who built a global empire of clothes, then cosmetics, perfumes, home furnishings, and more—netting him some $10 billion. Armani grew up in Northern Italy; his once-comfortable family ended up impoverished in World War II. Armani dropped out of medical school, did time in the army, and ended up as a window dresser and a salesclerk. In 1975, he founded Armani, with his big break coming in 1980 with the Richard Gere film American Gigolo, in which his brand was splashed all over the screen. “I wrote for Miami Vice, and part of the show’s success was the great style Giorgio brought to it,” recalls acclaimed editor Terry McDonell. “At the same time, Pat Riley was pacing the L.A. Laker bench in his suits, and suddenly it seemed like the high cool of pop culture—like Eric Clapton—had a new sheen of easy sophistication in his clothes. When I was editing Esquire, I’d have lunch with Armani in his Milan garden with his cat, Hannibal, prowling the flower beds. He would talk about his collections in terms of the simplicity of the lines and the richness of the fabrics. His understatement was symphonic.”

Wesley LePatner (July 28, Age 43)

LePatner, CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust and a rising star at that firm, was among four people shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan when an intruder walked into the office building in which she worked looking for the headquarters of the NFL, allegedly because he was angry about injuries he suffered playing football. LePatner, a wife and mother of two children, was nightmarishly at the wrong place at the wrong time. “Wesley LePatner was simply the best, both personally and professionally,” says Blackstone Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray. “She was an unstoppable force who achieved enormous success but never lost her humility and compassion for others.” LePatner, who graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, spent over a decade at Goldman Sachs before joining Blackstone in 2014.

Write to Andy Serwer at andy.serwer@barrons.com