[1] Aged 8, at the dawn of the World War II he fled Paris with his mother and sister to save themselves from Nazis.
[2] Separated from his father, who was in New York City during World War II, David-Weill remained behind with his mother in occupied France.
During the last year of Nazi occupation, at age 11, he lived with his mother and younger sister in the French village of Béduer (Lot, southwestern France),[1] where they were baptized and raised as Roman Catholics (his father Pierre would later convert to Catholicism in 1965).
[1] Under the stewardship of chairman André Meyer, Felix Rohatyn, who handled acquisitions, and he himself, who was the bookkeeper, Lazard grew rapidly.
Under David-Weill's direction, Lazard began to expand its business from traditional merger and acquisition advising to areas such as asset management and municipal bond.
He also made numerous hires, including Steven Rattner as well as Kenneth M. Jacobs the current Chairman of Lazard.
Ambassador to France, Kendrick Wilson III for Goldman Sachs, Gerald Rosenfeld for Rothschild & Co. and other prominent dealmakers of the firm such as J. Ira Harris and Steven Rattner.
Rohatyn left when Wasserstein was appointed and went on to join Morgan Stanley, Rothschild & Co., and finally Lehman Brothers.