Wesley LePatner was a professional powerhouse, a mentor to young women in commercial real estate, a wife and mother of two.
LePatner, 43, was killed Monday after a gunman barged into the lobby of 345 Park Avenue. The Blackstone executive was shot with an assault rifle as she took cover behind a pillar, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
As her death sent shockwaves through the real estate industry, LePatner’s coworkers and colleagues took to social media to remember her.
“She made time for so many of us—especially junior women at Blackstone—always offering guidance, support, and was a powerful example of how to lead with strength and compassion,” Blackstone principal Susan Webster Murphy posted on LinkedIn. “My heart and prayers are with her husband, children, and all who loved her.”
In a LinkedIn post, CEO Steven Schwarzman called LePatner “an incredible woman who had an infectious energy and inner light — a light that will shine far brighter than the shadow cast by this senseless tragedy.”
LePatner joined Blackstone in 2014 and rose through the ranks over the next decade to become one of the top women at the firm. She replaced Frank Cohen in January as chief executive officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. She was also global head of the firm’s Core+ business, which invests in low-risk assets, and head of the firm’s Women’s Initiative.
She served on the boards of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, the UJA-Federation of New York, and Yale University Library Council and was a member of the Advisory Board of Governors of NAREIT.
“Wesley LePatner was so much more than an incredibly talented and smart real estate executive and manager,” Osso Capital CEO Olivia John posted on LinkedIn. “She had a pure heart, was humble, and always wanted to do what was right.”
Joshua Kusher, who worked at Goldman Sachs with LePatner before she joined Blackstone, posted on X that she was “one of the kindest and most brilliant people I knew.” They also ran in the same social circle.
“She was an incredible mentor to me when I was her analyst during my time at GS, and a deeply supportive friend ever since,” Kushner posted. “It is truly hard to comprehend such a senseless tragedy.”
Courtney Reum, co-founder of the Los Angeles-based investment firm M13, worked for a time with LePatner at Goldman Sachs and her husband Evan at Citibank, he posted on LinkedIn.
“Two high-powered execs and even better people who came together to create a family legacy that they always put first,” he posted. “Whenever Evan and I caught up, he probably didn’t realize it, but he would usually start by telling me something about Wes and how proud of her he was.”
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