Arthur Fleischer Jr., Veteran Corporate Takeover Lawyer, Dies at 92
Summary
Arthur Fleischer Jr., an art-loving lawyer who for decades was one of the leading deal makers in corporate mergers, died on March 21 at his home in Manhattan. Over a 65-year career at the firm that became known as Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where he eventually served as co-chairman, Mr. Fleischer became one of the top practitioners of the business of mergers and acquisitions, playing a role in a number of major transactions. Perhaps his highest-profile assignment was advising what was then Philip Morris in its unsolicited takeover bid of Kraft, which led to a $13.1 billion deal in 1988. “These transactions do not provide opportunity for on-the-job training,” he told The New York Times in 1988. “They require people who can move quickly and can think strategically and are familiar with the kinds of problems that are common to these types of deals.”