Fortress CEO Josh Pack Dead at the Age of 51 — One of Finance's "Most Influential Voices"

In many ways, 2025 has come full circle again back to a time when rich business owners were celebrities, and everyone who was anyone recognized their face. Billionaire and millionaire CEOs are celebrities once again, and hold significant sway over our culture and politics.

Fortress Investment Group, one of the finance world's most influential asset managers, has just lost one of its own celebrities.

Co-CEO Josh Pack died at the age of 51, leaving Fortress and his business legacy behind. Here's what we know about his cause of death, his net worth as a CEO, and the sort of private life Josh led when away from the hustle and bustle of Wall Street.

The announcement of Josh's death came from the company that he poured his heart and soul into. Fortress announced his passing, after 23 years the company, on Oct. 10, 2025.

In a memorial page for the Co-CEO, Fortress wrote, "For over 27 years, Mr. Pack has been an active investor in alternative assets through multiple credit cycles."

Prior to his passing, Josh co-CEO'd Fortress alongside Drew McKnight, their close working partnership steering the company through the turbulent years.

However, Drew addressed board members with the stunning news that Josh had died, and he would be joined in his role of co-CEO by Jack Neumark, per Mint.

In a statement shared with the outlet, Drew said, "While we have a giant hole in our hearts for Josh that will never be filled, we also have a team and a culture that Josh helped shape and cultivate."

So far, there has been no press release or news as to the cause of Josh's death.

While Josh's net worth is hard to pinpoint, we do know that Fortress Investment Group manages an eye-popping $53 billion in assets, so he likely left a hefty net worth behind.

He was a "devoted father and husband," according to Fortress's announcement of his passing, leaving behind a wife and four children, who stayed out of the spotlight.

Josh was considered one of the movers and shakers in the world of finance, so his death will leave impacts that will be felt for years to come. Yet, Jack has shared of the Fortress team's ability to adapt, “The ability of our team to adapt over the past 10 days is exactly what we would expect after working together for decades. And that’s part of what we learned from Josh" (via Mint).

Prior to joining Fortress, Josh was an executive at Wells Fargo. There, he worked with Ike Suri, Chairman and CEO of finance tech company FundingShield.

Ike mused on Josh's passing that he was "always a man full of great ideas, very collaborative, very humble. People looked up to him, and that’s a very sad thing to see him go this soon.”