The 35-year-old Bank of America investment banker who died of a blood clot earlier this month was looking for a new job at a different company due to the stress of working more than 100 hours a week, according to a report.
Leo Lukenas III, a former enlisted soldier turned junior banker who worked out of Bank of America’s offices in Midtown Manhattan, contacted an executive recruiter about a new job before he died on May 2 of what the medical examiners called an acute coronary artery thrombus, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Douglas Walters, a managing partner at GrayFox Recruitment, told Reuters that Lukenas informed him in mid-March that he wanted to leave Bank of America because of the grueling hours.
GrayFox Recruitment is a firm that specializes in placing people in financial industry jobs such as investment banking and private equity.
Walters told Reuters that Lukenas, who left behind a wife and two small children, did not raise any health issues in their discussions about career options.
The former Green Beret told Walters he thrived in a competitive culture and “would never say no” to assignments, Walters recalled.
But Lukenas also asked Walters whether it was normal to put in 110 hours of work a week.
Walters said he told Lukenas that consistently putting in such long hours was unusual even by Wall Street standards.
“He made a comment saying like, ‘hey, I’ll trade hours of sleep for a 10% (pay) cut,’” Walters said.
Lukenas said he had too little time to spend with his family, Walters added.
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