Teddy Forstmann — the Wall Street tycoon who pioneered leveraged buyouts and more recently dated and raised a child with “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi — died yesterday at 71.

Forstmann, who in the past was also romantically linked to Princess Diana and actress Elizabeth Hurley, had been diagnosed with brain cancer earlier this year.

The man who coined the term “barbarians at the gate” to describe the corporate raiders of the 1980s had pioneered leveraged buyouts in the 1970s, taking over and turning around companies including Dr. Pepper and Gulfstream Aerospace.