And the Lazard Frères legend is continuing to influence the global art scene two decades after his death. Last month in New York, Christie’s auctioned his personal collection of furniture and art for $6.4 million. Meyer’s daughter, Francine, had maintained the collection but directed that it be sold upon her own death. She died earlier this year. Before Meyer moved to the U.S. in the 1940s, the “Picasso of banking,” as some called him, assembled a noted collection of 18th-century furniture and Impressionist paintings. “When he was in France, he was very much into mixing and matching - he liked to keep it spiced up a bit,” says a spokeswoman for Christie’s. Too bad Meyer can’t exert influence on his old firm from beyond the grave: CEO William Loomis, once heir apparent to Michel David-Weill, resigned last month, the latest in a string of departures by senior partners prompted by spats over distribution of profits and cross-Atlantic tensions.
