Gerald Tsai, the playboy financier who seduced America
Gerald Tsai was a titan of the US financial world, first as a stock picker of almost preternatural ability during the "go-go" 1960s bull market. He transformed a tin can manufacturer into the financial services firm Primerica through sheer will in the 1980s.
Nancy Tsai, the ex-wife of late billionaire Gerald Tsai, is set to face trial for fleecing a frail friend aged 92. She and her husband were famed for their philanthropy, giving US$3 million to the Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach, Florida, where they spent winters. They divorced in 2006.
Nancy Tsai was ferried into the highest ranks of society by an ambitious husband born into a worldly mainland family.
He bought the investment bank Smith Barney in the process. He sold Primerica to Sandy Weill in 1988 for US$1.7 billion. The company became the seed for banking behemoth Citigroup.
Tsai was famed for a high-turnover investing style that carried over into his personal life - he married and divorced four times. And he skirted disasters both financial and physical.
In 1980, he survived after crashing his helicopter into the Hudson River. He was also idolised by younger tycoons, including Donald Trump.
When Tsai was named CEO of Primerica, "I went out the same day and bought stock", Trump told Fortune magazine. "I made a big bet on Gerry. Life is people and Gerry's a champ."