11/09/2009

Sam Heyman, Corporate Raider, Dies at 70

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Samuel J. Heyman, who has become a predatory company that has preferred to keep the company which acquires and manages them, rather than sell them for a quick profit, died Sunday at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 70.

The death of Mr. Heyman was confirmed by his wife, Ronnie, who said he had died of complications from open heart surgery.

Mr. Heyman was recently chairman of GAF Corporation, a manufacturer of roofing materials and a chemical company that has been separated from GAF, called International Specialty Products. Both companies are based in Wayne, NJ, writes Geraldine Fabrikant in The New York Times.

A group led by Mr. Heyman, GAF bought in 1983 and denied in 1987, after the stock market collapsed. Then spread GAF chemical activity in a separate company, ISP

During this period, corporate raiders tend to buy the business, reduce operating costs and resell them at profit. But after that Mr. Heyman has won a battle with the management of GAF for the control of the company, told the New York Times: "There is a strong potential in the field of chemistry, and we expect to grow."

Mr. Heyman, who was also a lawyer, had various business operations, including Heyman Properties, which owns shopping centers in the Northeast and has grown into a case he inherited from his father.

"He was very methodical. There was a rhyme and reason for everything he did," said Leon Black, the president of Apollo Management, a private equity firm and a longtime friend who was an investment banker , M. Heymann.

Mr Black added: "He combined a strong legal background with a strong work force analysis, and it was a tough negotiator. But what has really kick Sat, who was a builder. Everything was focused on the building, if its activities, his property, his collection of art or his family. "

Mr. Heyman was born March 1, 1939, in Danbury, Connecticut, and Annette Lazarus Heyman. His father was a promoter. After graduating from Yale in 1960 and Harvard Law School in 1964, Mr. Heyman went to work in the Department of Justice under Robert F. Kennedy and served as Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the United States in Connecticut. He had to cut short his career when his father needed him to resume the business of property development.

Mr. Heyman made his biggest problem in 1983, the battle for the GAF. A group of shareholders led by Mr. Heyman became frustrated by the resistance of management to sell some of its main activities, including the chemical industry.

Mr. Heyman has conducted an aggressive campaign against the company president, and finally forced his dismissal by a vote of shareholders - a rare victory for the shareholders at a time when the leaders of state enterprises have been considered virtually untouchable.

Once that Mr. Heyman took control of GAF, turned and held for the chemical sector, which ultimately, an important factor for the benefit of society.

He also acted swiftly to cut costs and reorganize the company, saying the time was a man "impatient. When I see a place where money can be saved, not waste time."

Mr. Heyman also gave money. In 1999 he founded the Partnership for Public Service, which provides scholarships to encourage students to pursue careers in public service. For his charitable work, Mr. Heyman has won the Prize of the President of citizens in 2008.

His other philanthropic interests included the creation of Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

He and his wife also art collections. Among their holdings of works by Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.

Besides his wife, the former Ronnie Feuerstein, Mr. Heyman is survived by his mother, Annette Heyman Palm Beach, Florida, including four children, Lazarus Heyman, Eleanor Propp, Jennifer Millstone, and Elizabeth Winter, and nine grandchildren.

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