JPMorgan's Trillion-Dollar Man

All the giants of the buyout world were in attendance in 2005, when JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote) Vice Chairman James Bainbridge Lee Jr. threw a party to celebrate 30 years at the institution he joined when it was Chemical Bank.

The deal frenzy that would end in tears when credit dried up in 2007 was in full swing and Lee, a larger-than-life investment banker who many say "invented" the syndicated loan market, was squarely in the middle of it. JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon scanned the room containing the likes of private equity giants Henry Kravis and Steve Schwarzman, before making a brief speech.

"Jimmy Lee has probably lent a trillion dollars to the people in this room," he said, adding after a beat, "and almost all of it has been paid back." ...