Lazard banker Biondi dies at 50

NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Michael Biondi, a senior banker at Lazard Ltd. (LAZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) died on Monday, the investment bank has told employees in a memo.

Biondi, 50, died unexpectedly at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut, Lazard said. Biondi most recently served as Lazard's co-chairman of investment banking.

"Mike was an exceptional banker and reflected the spirit of Lazard," Lazard Chairman Bruce Wasserstein said on Tuesday in the memo to employees. "Mike was one of the good guys and all of our lives are diminished without him," according to the memo which was made available to Reuters by Lazard.

Biondi began his career as an attorney at law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. He took a job at First Boston in the mid-1980s.

It was there he joined forces with investment bankers Wasserstein and Joseph Perella. He later helped start the boutique advisory firm, Wasserstein Perella & Co. in 1988.

Biondi served as Wasserstein and Perella's chairman and chief executive from 1996 until its sale in early 2001.

He joined Lazard from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein where he held a number of senior positions, including chairman and co-chief executive of the Americas and co-head of global investment banking.

Biondi graduated from Dartmouth College, where he played baseball. He also received degrees from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Wharton Business School. (Reporting by Tim McLaughlin)