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The man who leapt to his death from a luxury hotel in New York City this week was identified as the wealthy co-founder of movie ticket firm Fandango.
J. Michael Cline plunged from the 20th floor of the Kimberly Hotel and landed in a third-floor courtyard on the morning of 16 July, according to law enforcement sources. The wealthy businessman apparently left a suicide note before jumping from the building on East 50th Street near Lexington Avenue, the sources added.
Described as a “serial entrepreneur”, Cline was also a managing partner at the startup funding firm Accretive as well as a philanthropist who advocated for the protection of tigers. The 64-year-old was also a father of six with a home in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The contents of the note were not immediately known, and as the investigation continues, police say that “no criminality is suspected”. However, the manner of his death came as a shock to those who knew him, occurring mere days after his gallbladder surgery, sources said via NY Post.
Cline owned multimillion-dollar houses in the Hamptons and Palm Beach, Florida, including a sprawling lakefront abode he bought with his wife for $20.75 million in December 2020, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.
He founded Fandango in 2000 and left in 2011. The company is now owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he attended Cornell University and got an MBA from Harvard University before founding the company Acumen, an outsourcer of lab operations for large hospitals, in 2010 and was chairman and director through 2017. He also founded Accolade, a vendor of health services for large employers and hospital systems, in 2007 and worked as founder and chairman through 2022. He also founded and was the managing partner of Accretive, which funds start-up companies.
He was also the executive chairman of Juxtapose, which specialises in funding startups that build consumer-focused firms, according to an online resume. True to the ‘serial entrepreneur’ nickname, Cline also founded the tech solutions firm R1 RCM, along with the small business insurance firm Insureon, and the education solutions company Everspring, according to Harvard’s alumni website.
Cline married his wife, Pamela, in 1995, according to a New York Times wedding announcement, and they share six children, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
[source:nypost]
