James Lee, prominent JPMorgan investment banker, dies at 62

NEW YORK (AP) - James "Jimmy" Lee, the JPMorgan Chase banker who helped arrange some of the biggest corporate deals for companies including General Motors, News Corp. and Facebook, died Wednesday. He was 62 years old.

Lee was among the best-known dealmakers on Wall Street. If a company wanted to go public, sell a business or merge with a competitor, Lee was often in the middle of it. Insiders said the fact that Lee was advising on a deal was a stamp of credibility in and of itself.

Lee co-led the deal to help Facebook go public in 2012. JPMorgan was the lead bank on General Motors' initial public offering in 2011, following its government-aided bankruptcy. GM's $23 billion IPO was the largest in U.S. history.

He helped Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. buy Dow Jones in 2007. He was lead investment banker behind United Airlines' merger with Continental.

"Jimmy was a master of his craft, but he was so much more - he was an incomparable force of nature," said JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in a statement.

Lee worked for various parts of JPMorgan Chase for the bulk of his career.

He started at Chemical Bank in the 1970s, which later became Chase. Lee was credited for creating what's known as the loan syndication market, which is when a group of banks come together to make a large loan to company, with each of the banks taking on a different part of the risk.

Lee is survived by his wife Elizabeth and three children.

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