Table of Contents

Leon G. Cooperman Biography

Leon G Cooperman is an American billionaire investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He is the chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors, a New York-based investment advisory firm managing over $3.3 billion in assets under management, the majority consisting of his personal wealth.

Soon after graduating from Columbia, Cooperman joined Goldman Sachs. He spent his first 22 years at Goldman in the Investment Research Department as partner-in-charge, co-chairman of the Investment Policy Committee and chairman of the Stock Selection Committee. In 1989, he became chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and was chief investment officer of the equity product line including managing the GS Capital Growth Fund, an open-end mutual fund, for one and one-half years.

While at Goldman Sachs, for nine consecutive years, Cooperman was voted the number one portfolio strategist in the Institutional Investor “All-America Research Team” survey.

At the end of 1991 after twenty-five years of service, Cooperman retired from his positions as a general partner of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and as chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Leon G Cooperman Age | Leon G. Lee Cooperman

When it comes to his age, Leon was born on April 25, 1943. His birth name is Leon G. “Lee” Cooperman. He is 76 years old.

Leon G Cooperman Family

Cooperman was born to a Jewish family in the South Bronx, New York City. He is the son of immigrants from Poland. Details of his parent’s names and siblings are currently under review.

Leon G Cooperman Education

Cooperman was the first in his family to earn a college degree. As an undergraduate at Hunter College, Cooperman joined and was an active member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi. After graduating, he became a quality control engineer at Xerox in 1965. Cooperman later received his MBA from Columbia Business School, graduating in 1967.

Leon G. Cooperman Net Worth | Leon G Cooperman Billionaires to pay more taxes

Cooperman founded Omega Advisors in 1991. It had approximately $3.6 billion in assets under management as of June 30. The investor has a net worth of $3.2 billion, according to Forbes. The Wall Street veteran’s July Financial Times op-ed questioned whether a wealth tax would be “the best path forward for the country and whether the federal government is currently up to the task of allocating those tax resources efficiently.”

But he expressed support for a progressive income tax, writing: “Congress should revisit the ‘Buffett rule,’ named for his belief that the wealthy should not pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than those who are less affluent, and impose a surtax on those making more than $1 million.”

Leon G Cooperman Wife | Leon G Cooperman Children

Moving on to his love life, Leon is married to his wife Toby. The happy couple is blessed with two sons Wayne and Michael, and three grandchildren. Since the late 1970s, Cooperman has been a resident of the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, New Jersey. He has an honorary doctorate in finance from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.

Leon G Cooperman Omega Advisors

Omega

After leaving Goldman Sachs, he organized a private investment partnership, Omega Advisors, Inc. Cooperman retired in 2016 and converted Omega to a family office.

2016 SEC investigation

On September 21, 2016, Cooperman was charged with insider trading by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He denied the charges. Cooperman faced criminal charges in a related parallel proceeding and has asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before an SEC hearing. In May 2017 Cooperman’s firm agreed to a $4.9 million settlement with the SEC. As part of the agreement, Omega Advisers admitted no wrongdoing.

Following the settlement, Cooperman commented: “The process, in my opinion, was totally abusive. It’s a problem that the government should address,” and “My lawyers told me that the probability of my winning would be overwhelmingly high, that if I didn’t win it had nothing to do with the merits of the case,” he said. SEC officials declined to comment.