His passing last weekend was called ‘unexpected’ in a note to investors by his close colleague and president of Cerberus Global Investors, Lee Millstein. The cause of death was not announced.

Described in tributes as a ‘star of private equity’, Rawald joined New York-based Cerberus in 2006 where he continued to build upon more than three decades of success in a truly international career, encompassing stints in Europe, Japan and the US.

Remembering Rawald, David Gillerman, the founding partner of Crossroads real estate partners, said: ‘Ron was a friend and a mentor to many of us, an amazing guy, super smart, charismatic, humble, adventurous, a leader, a straight shooter with a great sense of humour. One of the legends of our industry. Ron will be truly and dearly missed.’

Before joining Cerberus, Rawald was a managing director at Fortress Investment Group in Frankfurt between 2004 and 2005, with responsibility for commercial property and special situations investments in Europe. He was a founding partner of Aetos Capital, a private equity real estate fund investing in Japanese assets, where he worked from 2001 to 2004. He and Millstein also worked together at Morgan Stanley’s special situations group. From 1989 until 1998, Rawald worked at Merrill Lynch in distressed loan trading and in real estate portfolio management, and also at TIAA.

At the time of his passing, Rawald was a member of Cerberus’ real estate committee, real estate debt committee, and non-performing loan (NPL) committee.

Speaking to PropertyEU in an exclusive interview last year with Millstein and fellow Cerberus colleague Daniel Dejanovic, about the firm’s ‘biggest year yet,’ Rawald lifted the lid on how he did business. ‘It is something that we are really proud of – the fact that over 85% of our resolutions of NPLs are consensual deals with the borrower,’ he said. ‘We sit down with the borrower and come up with a solution that the borrower and ourselves are happy with.’

Writes Robin Marriott, editor-in-chief at PropertyEU

This is a sad time for the loved ones and all those in real estate who knew Ron Rawald. His knowledge of real estate was massive. He helped me on several occasions understand aspects of the real estate investment business not only during official interviews but also when I sometimes approached him unofficially for advice on a topic. He will be hugely missed. Rest in peace.   

THE FULL LETTER TO LIMITED PARTNERS 

August 17, 2020

Dear Investors, It is with profound sadness that we share with you that a dear friend, colleague, and member of the Cerberus’ Real Estate team, Ron Rawald, unexpectedly passed away over the weekend. Ron’s official title was Senior Managing Director and Head of International Real Estate, but we all knew him as a hard-working, well-liked, and widely respected part of the Cerberus family. Ron joined Cerberus over 13 years ago, starting in Frankfurt, moving to London, and then settling in New York in 2017 to oversee the Firm’s international real estate strategy. Ron was always on a plane, blazing new trails and finding new opportunities across the globe for our investors. Among his many accomplishments, Ron was integral in establishing Cerberus as a leading investor in global non-performing loans. More recently, he had been leading the charge on our Real Estate emerging market strategy. Personally, I have known Ron for over 22 years —as he would remind me on our “anniversary” each year. We met when he first joined Morgan Stanley in 1998 and only a few months later, we both moved to Tokyo. Traveling the world, sitting through countless roll-up and investment committees, Ron helped lead the way as we built businesses across the globe. Over the years, we became not only colleagues and partners, but also close friends. Ron was kind and thoughtful, adventurous and entertaining, and had an extraordinary ability to make friends with anyone he met. He was fiercely loyal and touched the lives of many people around the globe. Most of all, Ron was very proud of and close to his family. As I sit here writing this, there are so many memories going through my mind — for now, I will simply say that I will miss him very much. At Cerberus, we greatly value our familial culture and close partnership with our investors. It is times like these that words are necessary, but not sufficient. Our thoughts, prayers, and support are with the Rawald family during this incredibly difficult time. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or Chris Schiermbock
Sincerely, Lee Millstein President of Cerberus Global Investments and Global Head of Real Estate