E. Lee Hennessee, a pioneering woman in the male-dominated hedge fund industry and the creator of one of the first indexes to track its secretive transactions, was found dead on Saturday at her home in West Palm Beach, Fla. She was 64. The cause was apparently a stroke, said Chase Scott, a spokesman for the family.
She was a frequent presence at the industry conference and was an early supporter of the industry association 100 Woman in Hedge Funds.
Miss Hennessee started her hedge fund index tracking with strategies were making or losing money across the industry in 1987.
The reputation she built over many years suffered in 2005 when a fund her group were recommended, Bayou Management, based in Connecticut collapsed. Bayou's Chief Executive and founder, Samuel Israel III pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud in cheating investors out of $450 million dollars.
In 2009, the firm paid a $100,000 fine and repaid $549,000 plus interest to settle claims filed by the S.E.C that it had failed to perform. The settlement did not include any admission or denial of the claims.
In 2013, the Hennessee Group's advisory business was acquired by Terrapin Asset Management.
Elizabeth Lee Hennessee was born on Sept. 1, 1952, in Raleigh, N.C., to Mary Frances Dillon and William E. Hennessee. Her father was a senior vice president in charge of advertising and tobacco sales at the Dillon Supply Company.
She graduated in 1975 from Randolph-Macon Woman's College (now Randolph College), in Lynchburg, Va. She started working on Wall Street a year later.
Ms. Hennessee served as a finance chairwoman for Elizabeth Dole's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000 and organized the Billy Graham crusade in New York in 2005. She was active in Palm Beach charities.
Ms. Hennessee is survived by her husband, her mother and two brothers, William and Grover Hennessee.
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