Goldman Sachs' M&A head who retired aged 64 has died aged 68
Michael Carr, the former co-head of global M&A at Goldman Sachs, had the sort of career that analysts just starting out in banking may not think possible.
Carr spent 40 years in M&A, starting from 1982. Fourteen of those years were spent at Salomon and then Smith Barney before it merged with Citi. 26 were spent at Goldman Sachs, where Carr became co-head of global M&A in 2020. By that point, he'd already been a managing director (MD) since 1993.
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Carr officially retired from Goldman in 2022, aged 64. He stayed on at the firm as an advisor but his FINRA profile shows he only officially left in January 2025. Today, Goldman has published Carr's obituary, remembering him as a "devoted husband, loving father, loyal friend, and extraordinary colleague," with a great sense of humour, a big heart and a passion for the Grateful Dead.
Goldman Sachs' CEO David Solomon told Bloomberg that Carr was "incredibly kind to everyone he crossed paths with and immensely generous.” He reportedly died of complications from a neurodegenerative disease.
When Carr retired, Bloomberg described him as an "old school rainmaker." One former Salomon banker described him as looking "like a magazine ad for Wall Street—impeccably dressed, hair always in place, megawatt smile, seemingly born in a suit and tie.” Carr reportedly told him: “You don’t have to try to create a separate persona [to work in the industry]."
Carr worked on landmark deals, but like many M&A bankers he also spent a lot of time waiting for the right conditions to get deals over the line. In a late 2019 interview with Bloomberg, he said there were "headwinds" to deals from clients worried about growth ahead of an uncertain election year. "These folks are spending an enormous amount of capital to have their company grow. And what we find out all the time is they really need to be careful. And our job is to make sure that we really look around all the corners," he added.
Writing on LinkedIn, one former Salomon colleague said Carr was a "true giant" who made him proud of the business of providing important advice to clients and doing so with integrity and humility.
Carr is survived by two daughters, one of whom formerly worked for Goldman as an associate, and by his wife Shelley.
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