Marc Lasry

Marc Lasry is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and co-founder and chief executive officer of hedge fund Avenue Capital Group.

Early life and Education
Lasry was born in Marrakech, Morocco. He and his family immigrated to the U.S. from Morocco when he was 7 and spoke no English. His father, Moise, was a computer programmer and his mother, Elise, was a schoolteacher. At night, his parents worked a second job selling Moroccan clothing to boutique stores.

Career
Mr. Lasry originally pursued a career in law, having clerked for the Honorable Edward Ryan, former Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the Southern District of New York and then having served as a specialist in bankruptcy law at Angel & Frankel.

Lasry began his career investing in distressed securities in the late 1980s. Lasry left Angel & Frankel for a job as the director of the private debt department at R.D. Smith (now Smith Vasillou Management). It was there he first got involved in trade claims. One year later, he went on to serve as Co-Director of the Bankruptcy and Corporate reorganization Department at Cowen & Company. At Cowen & Company, Mr. Lasry recruited his sister Sonia Gardner to join the firm to assist in the trade claims department.

Media speculation says that Lasry will be the next ambassador to France with the announcement coming in the next few weeks, during April 2013. This is due largely to his fund raising for Democratic candidates including both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Personal life
Lasry is married to Cathy Lasry and has five children, one of whom now works in the White House.
Lasry is a competitive athlete, especially in basketball and tennis.{{cite web|last=Schwartz|first=Nelson|title=Hedge Fund Places Faith in Euro Zo