Bruce Wasserstein, who has died aged 61, was the pre-eminent Wall Street dealmaker of the 1980s and a leading figure in transforming the business of advising companies on mergers and acquisitions.

Wasserstein was trained as a corporate lawyer and brought brooding intelligence and tactical brilliance to M&A, first with his long-time partner Joe Perella at First Boston (now absorbed within Credit Suisse) and then at their groundbreaking boutique advisory firm Wasserstein Perella.