Sorkin: Felix Rohatyn Looks Back, and Sighs

Felix G. Rohatyn, one of Wall Street’s last old wise-men, was sitting in his office at Lazard overlooking the Empire State Building on Monday morning.

At 82, Mr. Rohatyn has quite a history: he helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s, advised RJR Nabisco on its sale to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in the 1980s and sold Columbia Pictures to Sony in the 1990s before becoming ambassador to France under President Bill Clinton. In the last decade, he returned to Wall Street, first to Lehman Brothers and now to his longtime home, Lazard.

Mr. Rohatyn, whose revealing memoir, “Dealings: A Political and Financial Life” (Simon & Schuster), comes out in two weeks, is a proud man and has a lot to be proud of.