Head of US investment bank Lazard and master exponent of the hostile takeover Bruce Wasserstein has died at 61, according to media reports.

Mr Wasserstein advised on takeovers such as KKR’s $31.4 billion hostile bid for RJR Nabisco and the mega-merger of AOL and Time Warner.

At Lazard, his time in charge coincided with the firm’s move into wealth management.

Lazard had disclosed four days ago that Mr Wasserstein had been admitted to hospital for an irregular heartbeat and a week ago that Steven Golub, vice-chairman and fancied runner in the race to replace him, had been appointed interim chief executive.

Mr Wasserstein had been chairman and CEO of Lazard Group since May 2005 and a director since January 2002.  He was the head of Lazard and chairman of the executive committee of Lazard Group from January 2002 until May 2005.

Prior to joining Lazard, Mr Wasserstein was executive chairman at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein from January 2001 to November 2001. Before that, he was CEO of Wasserstein Perella Group, an investment banking firm he co-founded, from February 1988 to January 2001, when it was sold to Dresdner.

Prior to founding Wasserstein Perella, Mr Wasserstein was the co-head of investment banking at First Boston and before that an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.