Lorna Wendt, who was in her early 70s, “was an amazing person,” said Arnold Rutkin, one of her lawyers in her protracted divorce from high-powered executive Gary Wendt in Stamford, Conn., court. “She knew what she had done to help Gary, and she hung in there,” Rutkin told CNBC.
Lorna Wendt, of GE Capital ‘corporate wife’ divorce, dies. The woman whose bitter big-bucks divorce made national headlines in the 1990s when she dared to demand half of her GE Capital CEO husband’s assets — arguing she was an equal partner in his corporate rise — died Thursday after a short fight with cancer.
Gary, however, wanted to give her just $8 million, and $250,000 in annual alimony indefinitely.
Lorna didn’t get the amount she was seeking, even after a contentious 18-day trial in an extremely cramped courtroom that featured more than 100 exhibits, multiple expert witnesses and her irritated husband making faces at her lawyer Rutkin from the witness stand.
Gary Wendt, who resigned from GE Capital after his divorce when then-General Electric boss Jack Welch wanted to clear the path for a successor, later ran the then-troubled insurance and finance company Conseco, which lured him with a $45 million signing bonus.
He spent just over two years as CEO there before stepping down in 2002, shortly before the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Now chairman of the management committee at Deerpath Capital Management, Wendt could not be immediately reached for comment about the passing of his ex-wife.