Andrs brother George, an Oxford-educated minister, presided over the service wearing a white robe with gold vestments. Arriving to see Lucy at five oclock one evening, I noticed that her tiny knit cap had been cut down the center. Well, whats her name? a nurse with a long braid asked me. It was almost like part of his grand strategy, explains Joseph Perella, who founded the investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. with him in 1988. Email. As he left, I noticed that he was wearing clogs. The day after I arrived home, there was a message on my answering machine from the N.I.C.U. And why, of course, Slovakia needed a banker like Bruce to steer it forward. Unfortunately, instead of making my hair straight, the hairdresser decided to express herself through my natural curls. Looking down at Becky and Michele, with their intelligent, professional faces and perfectly coiffed heads, I imagined that they were having a heated conversation in the Neiman Marcus shoe department. Ever since my sisters death, Ive been convinced that any protracted time spent with a health-care professional is a prelude to terminal illness. After my return home, one afternoon two weeks later, there was a message on my answering machine from a lab: Congratulations. How could you have done that? recalls a managing director. She asked me where you were., My blood pressure was up again. Or you will dry up.. But then he wouldnt allow you to capitulate, so the negotiation cycle would begin anew., Myerson thinks all these contradictions made his friend extraordinary. Despite efforts at supportive care and indications of She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 for her play The Heidi Chronicles . Even at thirty, she takes Broadway dance classes every day. To ward off any chance of seizure, I was now attached to an intravenous magnesium drip, which made me nauseous. Wasserstein Shes very little, my mother said. Ms. Wasserstein would have juice and the two would ''sit around and vote for Best Supporting Actor in the Birth of Lucy Jane'' among the nurses and doctors. At the same time, Ms. Wasserstein's brother, Bruce, the investment banker, whose wife was giving birth to a son elsewhere in the hospital, went around the building proclaiming of Lucy, ''It's my child! WebAmerican playwright. The baby spent 10 weeks in neonatal intensive care. Linda Janklow, chairwoman of Lincoln Center Theater, and Lynn Nesbitt, the agent, attended. When the condition occurs late in the third trimester, mothers are immediately scheduled for childbirth. ), In the end, Wassersteins partners were terribly demoralized. I rolled over. Her dark eyes were shining as if she were still a girl playing by the Vistula River in Poland. Within a week, she had gained a pound, although, Ms. Wasserstein noted, ''weight gain runs in my family.'' He was in the middle of designing costumes for the upcoming musicals Contact and Swing! and for the Broadway play Epic Proportions. Even so, he rushed over to spend the night on the reclining guest chair in my hospital room. Lying on her side, she had a C-pap (continuous positive airway pressure) tube in one nostril, to keep her lungs inflated. The costume designer William Ivey Long (''Crazy for You,'' ''Chicago,'' ''Guys and Dolls'') decorated the hospital room. Im Catherine, the nurse said. A week later, I was walking down the street in my neighborhood and strangers smiled at me. She never identified the father. Although Im a big, hearty girl, even in routine circumstances I could be voted Miss White Coat Syndrome. He gave an exclusive interview to BusinessWeek, which put him on the cover. In a pregnant woman, the condition can lead to a seizure, and possibly a coma. This was the first I had heard of my daughters condition. He just could take the money. After a difficult pregnancy and Lucy Janes premature birth, Wassersteins health declined as her daughter grew stronger. Holyoke College, which recently awarded her an honorary doctorate, Wasserstein wrote her first play, "Any Woman Can't" in 1973. I put my hand through the porthole and touched her head. Still, there are a large number of men, gay and straight, whom Ms. Wasserstein regards as ''husbands,'' she said. (Ms. Wasserstein is writing a prose account of her pregnancy.). It started in Colombia, where premature babies dont have the medical advantages of babies in a place like this. ''I just assumed I would have no trouble, being a big, hearty girl,'' she said. And I was planning on leaving for England tonight., Try to relax. She started squeezing the blood-pressure pump again and asked me, Did you know you have protein in your urine?, No. I felt as if I were back in class at Mount Holyoke, in 1967, with one visiting male student from Amherst. Why hadnt he said anything to anybody?. I started imagining a scene from a Marx Brothers movie, A Day at the Hospital: While Bruce is telling Claude to breathe, he sees me being pushed to the sonogram room with my magnesium-drip sidekick. ''He said, 'You should try again.' He was a very, very strange guy, says one. and Lucy Wasserstein '22 about their experiences in their Core courses. Mr. Zaks came, and Paul Rudnick and Terrence McNally. Furthermore, although Fay was eighty-two, her death had unnerved me. It was a millennium prophecy close to a miracle. The Best Supporting Actor award, we decided, went to Dr. Bloomberg News wrote on January 19 that the successful deal seals the legacy of Wasserstein, and quoted former Lazard banker Philip Keevil as saying, This deal will be a monument to Bruce., Wasserstein does get credit at Lazard for bringing in the businessin the sense that he finally brought in a dealbut the dnouement was seen by some as the same old script of getting the client to win by paying too much. Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 January 30, 2006) was an American playwright. The less people know about you and your feelings, the more powerful your negotiating position will bein everything. When Ricky burst into song, my daughter started to cry. For eight years, I had believed that the greatest regret of my life would be childlessness. The next day, while I was calculating how I would inform the Princeton Theatre Department that I would not be teaching playwriting that fall, Dr. Richard Berkowitz, the hospitals head of obstetrics, came in. I reached for a magazine and came upon a detailed account of Cindy Crawfords pregnancy: Cindy is over the moon about her baby. Shes a good baby, even if she does look like you wouldnt pick her out in the poultry department.. . Half an hour later, my gray St. James suit was strewn over a stool in the Labor and Delivery ward at Mount Sinais Klingenstein Pavilion. She had another sonogram, and the ventricles are still enlarged.. Add a bio, trivia, and more. But I was panicking, and not just about my platelets. I mean, he was just useless., The argument coming from the board was that had Wasserstein left and the stock subsequently dropped they would have gotten sued. By November 2006, Wasserstein was ready to re-introduce himself to Wall Street and corporate America. First of all, its a massive hit to the compensation pool for a guy who contributed nothing. Bruce Wasserstein's big move Can you tell me about her brain sonogram?. Born. After my mothers death, my father plunged the family into evangelicalism, leaving our Jewish faith behind. Some of the rumors came about because Wasserstein had a hectic romantic life right up to the end. As I began to gather my memories of Fay that morning, I felt a tingling from my left elbow to my hand. ''Now we're depleted,'' she said; her sister Sandra Meyer died of cancer in 1997. I had never been asked to be the opening act at an Episcopal service before. On her chest were penny-size sticky pads holding down wires that were attached to a machine that measures heart rate, pulse, and oxygen level. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. After Fays funeral, I went to my regular appointment at the East Side Womens Ob/Gyn Associates. I ran down the corridor in search of Dr. Green, a large Southerner who was covering for Ian Holzman. I was twenty-five weeks pregnant; that meant three months at Mount Sinai. I looked over at Shayna. Despite the Kraft deal, the consensus among the rank and file at Lazard is that the firm is better off without Wasserstein. The exact cause of death has not yet been determined. Neither Lazard nor Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for the Wasserstein family, said how he died, and others who knew what happened remained circumspect. Would you like to feed Lucy Jane in the nesting room? Catherine asked me. Ken Jacobs and [vice-chairman] Steve Golub, says one Lazard banker, and he left all the leadership stuff to the two of them. They knew that Wasserstein had pledged to the analyst community that Lazard would pay out a maximum of 57.5 percent of annual revenue in the form of compensation, so this was a zero-sum game: what he took for himself would necessarily cut into what they could make. With stories about Wassersteins brilliant rise and the three different Wall Street firms he inspired, including his contentious final act as head of Lazard, the author profiles a master negotiator who made his own rules. As far as I can make out, relaxing and lying on your left side is the treatment for preclampsia. She came from a family of four children. The guy was just so different than most people that you and I know. To preserve the pregnancy, her doctor ordered her to the hospital. On hand, it seemed, was much of the theater establishment, including at least two of Lucy Jane's ''fathers,'' Mr. Graham and Mr. Bishop. of the company that you were taking him to see. The message the clients delivered time and time again was a simple one: Dont bring him back. It always had to be adjusted., Wasserstein loved to negotiate, even over the smallest and most insignificant things, like what time he would meet someone for lunch, or if they would first meet at the elevator or downstairs in the lobby of the building. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. Lucy Jane Wasserstein Then there is the seemingly straightforward question of precisely how Wasserstein died, three days after being hospitalized suddenly in New York with heart palpitations experienced in the backseat of his chauffeur-driven sedan, according to a former colleague. He looked like a guy who had been going through chemo or something. Inside the firm, the explanation was that he was suffering a prolonged bout of pneumonia. ''As far as I know, all premature babies are brain surgeons. In addition to bi-hourly blood-pressure monitoring, I was being treated by rotating cardiologists. Of course shell survive!. ', ''And that has been very true in my life. The drama, starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, is a study of male lonelinessa familiar theme in prestige TV that finds renewed urgency in an Asian American context. He was witty and enthusiastic. Says another person who saw Wasserstein last summer, He frankly looked pretty well. ''I want to know when you're going to write the play about this,'' Pat Schoenfeld, the wife of Gerald Schoenfeld, chairman of the Shubert Organization, asked Ms. Wasserstein. Youd better get the crib ready.. I have a name for my daughter, I announced to Dr. Holzman five days after the delivery. Agent She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. Nietzsches whole posit was that there are certain superhumans who are above the fray, above normal constraints, a friend of Wassersteins once told me. Despite efforts at supportive care and indications of recovery, he ultimately died of heart failure secondary to the arrhythmia.. Cover art for "Wendy and the Lost Boys". So I hope you dont mind, but I asked her to come only with you or with scheduled permission. Theres nothing like sitting in fertility doctors offices, looking at photos of the children theyve nudged into creation and knowing that youre the negative statistic. Ms. Wasserstein, 49, has long been called ''the voice of her generation.'' And Labor Day was when my brother Bruce and his wife were expecting their second child. Anyone can read what you share. And this time Ms. Wasserstein got pregnant. Add to list. I felt ashamed of envying themafter all, I was alive, and so was Lucy. None of them is more efficient than Catherine McCarron. The difference between his perception of his value and everybody elses was a wide chasm, one Lazard banker explains. Im sorry. Wendy Wasserstein is survived by her The crooner has come across the ocean to give our subway singers free concert tickets and spend money at our Irish bars. Lazards apparent obfuscation of Wassersteins health issues is nothing new, however. Janie, the heroine in ''Isn't It Romantic'' (1983), trying to decide whether to marry a boring doctor, fantasizes about having a child by herself: ''I can imagine myself at 36, driving cross-country to inseminate myself with a turkey baster.''. Accordingly, the firm announced that it would take a onetime, non-cash charge of $86.5 million and an additional onetime charge of $60.5 million to accelerate the vesting of deferred cash compensation Wasserstein awarded to other bankers during 2008. THE BOOK SHELF: A Biography of Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, Trivia. Her two daughters, in little silk dresses, looked like children in a Sargent painting. Each day at 5, cocktail hour, Mr. Gutierrez would come by. Lucy Jane Wasserstein. the firm would now be a shadow of its former self, assuming it was even still around. Its higher now! She seemed to be irritated with me. ''How's it going?'' The decorator Mario Buatta, ''the Prince of Chintz,'' was, too. Ad Choices. PLAYWRIGHT'S LATEST PRODUCTION: HAVING When Im frightened, I become excessively polite. She died of lymphoma in 2006 at age 55. A nurse stuck her head in: Your ex-husband is here! I had no idea whom she could be talking about. Lucy Jane (Jany) Thank you. I decided to take this as a compliment. Born Oct 18, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York; died Jan 30, 2006, in New York, NY; dau. Your blood pressure is very high, and theres a chance you have preclampsia., She explained, Preclampsia is a high-blood-pressure condition that can lead to liver and kidney failure. I was to be moved to the fourth floor for a weekend of observation. Lucy herself, though, was not present; it was cold season and no one wanted her to catch anything. Im going to the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, he told me. Maybe it was imagery left over from the service at St. James. Well, hes the father and Im the father.. I want you to teach her how to survive!, My mother dropped my hand. Are you pumping? an ultra-thin woman demanded from my doorway. She doesnt know if you want to see her. Bruce had told my mother about the birth. She was born when Wendy was 48, the paternity of the father remains a secret; Wendy would not reveal it even on her deathbed at 55 years old. Shes sleeping, Mommy, an N.I.C.U. On the holiest night of the year, after Yom Kippur services at Temple Emanu-El, I took a taxi back to the Klingenstein Pavilion. The first thing I noticed about my daughter was that she has shoulders like Audrey Hepburns when she wears that white strapless Cecil Beaton number in My Fair Lady. She was also wearing a Whats My Line eye mask. ), But the man Jordan and Lipton described is the same one who in 1995 had his maid pack up the belongings of his girlfriend Lorinda Ash, who had lived with him for three years. This could be quite exhausting, he recalled. At the end of the conversation, Reichstetter told Rosen, He really believed in people. That comment got Rosen thinking. ''It was: 'Get the nightie. Once again, Ms. Wasserstein encapsulated her generation, sitting at the center of a display of a new kind of mix of femininity, wealth, power and domesticity. Bruce and Kathleen had a very, very animated discussion about politics and the present state of political affairs. With dark hair and bright-blue eyes, she reminded me of Suzanne Pleshette in her pre-Bob Newhart phase. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. She got serious first at City College, where she found encouragement in Joseph Heller, followed by Yales famously cutthroat drama program, where she was barely When I had first contemplated becoming a mother, I was involved with a man who I hoped would be the father. We continue to mourn his loss. The Nipple Nazis attacked the next day at dawn. At two-twenty-five, I heard a cry and saw a baby out of the corner of my eye. Of course, as with most families, the majority of mine who had gathered at St. James that morning didnt have the slightest idea what was going on in my life. Living alongside Lucy was a baby whom Ill call Shayna Hutchinson. All rights reserved. A concierge at the Parker Meridien hotel stopped me to say, I think your having that baby is just great! Suddenly, I felt as if I were in a millennial version of Its a Wonderful Life. Hester Prynne had become the most popular girl in town. In December 2005, seven months after he engineered the initial public offering of Lazardafter which the firm was required to make regular public disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission and to investors about finances and material eventsWasserstein gave two interviews in which he said he had just recovered from pneumonia and several bouts of the flu. I hear youre not a grouper!. As an Ethical Culture School graduate, I have always believed that my purpose is to be generous and to serve others. His success in building firms was his success in building people. '', The real-life baby, Lucy Jane, was born nearly three months premature and had to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit for two months, though her mother tried to think of her as being away at ''a good Jewish boarding school which specializes in the sciences,'' as usual leavening the painful with a wisecrack. At that point, I started looking into adoption. Nobody in corporate America particularly cared about what he had to say, and he wasnt particularly good about saying it. The ratio of babies to nurses there is two to one. Its called kangaroo care, she explained. So I shouldnt front-run them., Indeed, the story that lots of people are telling is that Wasserstein was living an unhealthy lifestyle. He had lost his relevance. Wasserstein hated the nickname and felt betrayed by the presswhich had previously fawned over himbut there was no disputing the storys main premise, especially after both Allied Stores Corporation and Federated Department Stores Inc. filed for bankruptcy following a protracted takeover battle won by Wassersteins client Robert Campeau, a little-known Canadian real-estate developer, who offered much more than other bidders using primarily borrowed money that he was unable to pay back. It's quite emotional. And so, if you believe that, youre not bound by common morality, and youre just incredibly ambitious and impatient and not held back by that.. After the sonogram, I ran into a young woman who had recently taken home one of her twins on a heart-and-lung monitor while the other remained in the N.I.C.U. During our time in the hospital, we managed to build a neighborly friendship. I want you to get into a taxi and go over to Mount Sinai Hospital. Although I remain a religious skeptic (St. James and Temple Emanu-El notwithstanding), throughout my days of awe at the Klingenstein Pavilion I had a kind of blind faith. You need a laugh on the third line, I said. redefined a multicultural neighborhood. I arrived at the church looking like an extra from Yentl.. Bernard Gersten, executive producer of Lincoln Center Theater, was there. Lucy Jane Wasserstein weighed less than two pounds when delivered by Caesarian section in September 1999. Its wonderful having my daughter home, but the other one being here is very hard. (In December, I learned that the twin in the N.I.C.U.had not survived.).
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