Wesley LePatner was Blackstone's head of real estate and CEO of an evergreen real estate fund. She was a victim of Monday's NYC shooting.

Blackstone employees struggled on Tuesday to come to terms with the death of Wesley LePatner, one of the investment firm's senior executives who was gunned down late on Monday as she was leaving her Midtown Manhattan office.

At just 43, LePatner had risen to become global head of Core+ real estate and CEO of the $70 billion Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust, a role she took on this past January after serving as COO. A Goldman Sachs alum who worked in the firm’s real estate investment group, she joined Blackstone in 2014.