By Danielle Arfin
Wesley LePatner, a 43-year-old Blackstone executive and respected Jewish communal leader, was killed in a mass shooting at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan on July 28, 2025.
She served as the Global Head of Core+ Real Estate and CEO of the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), and had been with the firm since 2014. LePatner was remembered by colleagues and Blackstone leadership as brilliant, warm, and deeply respected.
A summa cum laude graduate of Yale University, LePatner previously worked at Goldman Sachs before joining Blackstone. At the firm, she chaired the Women’s Initiative, mentored young professionals, and championed diversity in the industry.
She served on the boards of the UJA-Federation of New York, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Yale University Library Council. In 2023, she received UJA-Federation’s Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award and helped lead a mission to Israel.
On the day of the shooting, LePatner was reportedly leaving work to meet a friend when she was shot in the building’s lobby while trying to shield herself behind a pillar.
Her family described her as “a beloved, fiercely loyal and caring friend, and a driven and extraordinarily talented professional.” A wife and mother of two, LePatner was praised as someone who brought purpose and joy into every aspect of life.
Her leadership in private equity and lifelong commitment to civic and Jewish communal causes are all coming to light as New York and the broader Jewish community mourn her loss and legacy.
