Lloyd Blankfein, who has served as the chairman and CEO of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs since 2006, announced today that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma.
“Fortunately, my form of lymphoma is highly curable,” Blankfein, 61, wrote in a letter to colleagues, clients and shareholders, “and my doctors' and my own expectation is that I will be cured.” Blankfein did not specify what type of lymphoma he suffers from.
While undergoing chemotherapy treatment over the next several months, Blankfein said he will “work substantially as normal, leading the firm” -- though he will reduce travel plans. Goldman’s board of directors is fully supportive of this approach, he added.
Blankfein became one of Wall Street’s most powerful players after his predecessor at Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson, was nominated by George Bush to serve as Treasury Secretary of the United States. Raised in a Brooklyn housing project, Blankfein put himself through school at Harvard and now boasts a reported $1.1 billion net worth.
After being diagnosed just last week, “I have a lot of energy and I'm anxious to begin the treatment,” he concluded.
Geoff Weiss
Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.
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