Apollo impact investing co-head Marc Becker dies aged 51

The private equity firm executive was battling cancer.

Marc Becker, a 27-year veteran of Apollo Global Management Inc. and co-head of impact investing at the private equity firm, died Monday. He was 51.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, according to an email from Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan, where he was recently chairman of the board.

Becker, a partner, joined Apollo in 1996 as its 14th employee after working as an analyst at Smith Barney. He served on the firm’s private equity investment committee throughout his tenure and previously oversaw investments in sectors including business services, transportation and logistics, and financial services.

“We have lost a larger-than-life presence who made an indelible mark on Apollo,” Chief Executive Officer Marc Rowan and Co-Presidents Scott Kleinman and Jim Zelter said in a message to employees. “We will remember him as a dedicated and loyal class-act, who was gracious and generous to all, and helped create and enhance some of our most well-known Apollo traditions.”

Becker, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, was also a prior chairman of the TEAK Fellowship, a program that helps low-income New York students get into selective high schools and colleges.

He’s survived by his wife, Caryn, and three children.