Theodore Forstmann | Longtime financier, 71

Theodore J. Forstmann, 71, a longtime Wall Street financier who was a major player during the wave of corporate takeovers in the 1980s, including the battle for RJR Nabisco, died of brain cancer Sunday, said a statement from the sports agency IMG.

Mr. Forstmann was chairman and chief executive officer of IMG and senior founding partner of the investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. Forstmann Little bought IMG in 2004.

Forstmann Little, which was founded in 1978, completed leveraged buyouts of companies including Dr Pepper, Yankee Candle, General Instrument, and Community Health Systems. In the last 33 years, the firm made 31 acquisitions and returned more than $15 billion to investors.

In 1988, Mr. Forstmann made clear his distaste for deal-making greased by junk bonds, which he considered too risky.

Mr. Forstmann graduated from Yale University and earned his law degree from Columbia University.

He was a philanthropist with a focus on helping disadvantaged children throughout the world. He cofounded the Children's Scholarship Fund.

Never married, Mr. Forstmann became the legal guardian of two boys in the 1990s after meeting them at an orphanage in South Africa.

Earlier this year, Mr. Forstmann signed the Giving Pledge, in which America's wealthiest people promise to give away at least half of their fortunes. - Inquirer wire services