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John du Pont

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John Eleuthère du Pont
Du Pont in February 1992
Born(1938-11-22)November 22, 1938
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedDecember 9, 2010(2010-12-09) (aged 72)
State Correctional Institution – Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Criminal statusDeceased
Conviction(s)Third-degree murder
Criminal penalty13 to 30 years in prison
Details
VictimsDavid Lesley Schultz, aged 36
DateJanuary 26, 1996
Location(s)Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Spouse(s)Gale Wenk (m. 1983; annulled after 90 days; div. 1987)
Parents

John Eleuthère du Pont (November 22, 1938 – December 9, 2010) was an American convicted murderer. An heir to the du Pont family fortune,[1] he was a published ornithologist, philatelist, conchologist, and sports enthusiast. Du Pont died in prison while serving a sentence of thirty years for the murder of Dave Schultz.

In 1972, du Pont founded and directed the Delaware Museum of Natural History and contributed to Villanova University and other institutions.[1] In the 1980s, he established a wrestling facility at his Foxcatcher Farm estate after becoming interested in the sport and in pentathlon events. Du Pont became a prominent supporter of amateur sports in the United States and a sponsor of USA Wrestling.

By the 1990s, friends and acquaintances were concerned about du Pont's erratic and paranoid behavior, but his wealth shielded him.[2] On February 25, 1997, he was convicted of murder in the third degree for the January 26, 1996, shooting of Schultz, an Olympic champion freestyle wrestler living and working on du Pont's estate that was located in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. He was ruled to have been mentally ill but not insane and was sentenced to prison for thirteen to thirty years. Du Pont died in prison at age 72 on December 9, 2010. To date, he is the only member of the Forbes 400 richest Americans to be convicted of murder.[3]

Early life

John du Pont (front left) during his time at the University of Pennsylvania

John du Pont was born on November 22, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of four children of William du Pont, Jr. and Jean Liseter Austin (1897–1988). He grew up at Liseter Hall, a mansion built in 1922 in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, by his maternal grandfather on more than 80 hectares (200 acres) of land given to his parents at their wedding by his maternal grandfather.[4] Both his parents' families had emigrated from Europe to the United States at the beginning of the 19th century and became highly successful.

During the 1920s and 1930s, du Pont's parents acquired more land and developed Liseter Hall Farm for Thoroughbred breeding, showing, and racing. His mother retained Liseter Hall Farm after the couple divorced in 1941. She added a dairy herd of Guernseys and bred Welsh ponies at the farm. John was aged 2 when his parents divorced. He had two older sisters, Jean and Evelyn; an older brother, Henry E. I. du Pont; and a younger half brother, William du Pont III, born of their father's second marriage.

Du Pont graduated from Haverford School in 1957. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he belonged to the Zeta Psi fraternity, but withdrew before completing his freshman year.[5] He later attended college in Miami, Florida, where he studied under and was mentored by scientist Oscar T. Owre.[6] He graduated from the University of Miami in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology. He went on to complete a doctorate in natural science from Villanova University in 1973.[7]

During an October 2015 podcast, Mark Schultz revealed that when du Pont was about thirty years old, a horse he was riding threw him onto a fence, resulting in injury to his testicles. They became infected and had to be removed, resulting in androgynous characteristics for the remainder of his life.[8]

Science career

During his graduate work, du Pont participated in several scientific expeditions to study and identify species of birds in the Philippines and South Pacific. As an ornithologist, du Pont is credited with the discovery of two dozen species of birds.[9] He founded the Delaware Museum of Natural History in 1957.[10] As a young man, he served on the board, helping guide the institution toward opening in 1972. After having been part of scientific expeditions, he served as director of the museum for many years.[11]

Personal life

At the age of 45, on September 3, 1983, du Pont married 29-year-old Gale Wenk, an occupational therapist. They met after he injured his hand in an auto accident.[12] They lived together for less than six months.[13] Du Pont filed for divorce when they had been married for ten months. Wenk sued du Pont for $5 million, claiming he had pointed a gun at her and tried to push her into a fireplace.[12] The divorce became final in 1987.[13] Du Pont's will excluded her from inheriting any of his estate.[14] In 1987, it was estimated that John du Pont was worth $200 million.[15]

Interests

The British Guiana 1c magenta postage stamp

Philately

Du Pont was also a philatelist. Bidding anonymously in a 1980 auction, he paid $935,000 for one of the rarest stamps in the world, the British Guiana 1856 1c black on magenta.[16] After his death, this stamp was sold at auction for $9.5 million (inclusive of buyer's premium) at Sotheby's June 17, 2014. For the fourth time, the stamp broke the record for a single stamp's sale.[17] The unique stamp was part of the estate of du Pont. According to du Pont's will—unsuccessfully challenged by several parties—80 percent of the sale proceeds went to the family of Bulgarian wrestler Valentin Jordanov Dimitrov and 20 percent to the Eurasian Pacific Wildlife Foundation, based in Paoli, Pennsylvania, a group du Pont founded to support Pacific wildlife.[17] In 1986, competing as "John Foxbridge", he won the Grand Prix d'Honneur in the FIP Championship Class at the STOCKHOLMIA 86 international stamp exhibition for his display of "British North America".[18] While du Pont continued to buy stamps while in prison, he was not allowed to bring them there.[19]

Athletics

Du Pont developed the 440-acre (1.8 km2) Liseter Hall Farm in Newtown Square as a high-quality wrestling facility for amateur wrestlers.[20] He called the private group "Team Foxcatcher," after his father's noted racing stable. Du Pont established an Olympic swimming and wrestling training center and sponsored competitive events at the estate. He also allowed some people, such as Olympic champion wrestlers Mark Schultz and later his older brother Dave Schultz and his wife, to live in houses on the grounds for years. Dave Schultz also coached the Foxcatcher team.

Du Pont became a sponsor in wrestling, swimming, track, and the modern pentathlon. He was also involved in promoting a subset of the modern pentathlon (run, swim, shoot) as a separate event.[21][22] He took up athletics and became a competitive wrestler in his 50s. His only prior wrestling experience was as a freshman in high school. He began competing again at the age of 55 in the 1992 Veteran's World Championships in Cali, Colombia; following that in 1993 in Toronto, Ontario; [23] and in 1995 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Lawsuit

In August 1988, a problem-plagued wrestling program he funded at Villanova was shut down after just two years. In December 1988, a lawsuit (which was settled out of court) claimed du Pont had made improper sexual advances to Villanova assistant coach Andre Metzger.[24]

He shot that mofo

Death

Du Pont died at the age of 72 on December 9, 2010, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said du Pont was found unresponsive in his bed at the State Correctional Institution – Laurel Highlands. He was pronounced dead at 6:55 a.m. at UPMC Somerset.[1][25] He was buried in his red Foxcatcher wrestling singlet, in accordance with his will, at the Du Pont de Nemours Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.[26]

Philanthropy and institutions

Du Pont founded the Delaware Museum of Natural History in 1957, which opened to the public in 1972 on a site near Winterthur donated by his relative Henry Francis du Pont. John du Pont served on the board for many years. He also helped fund a new basketball arena at Villanova University, which opened in 1986. Originally it was called the John Eleuthère du Pont Pavilion, but after his conviction, his name was removed from the facility and simply called The Pavilion. Today the facility is named The Finneran Pavilion.

Foxcatcher Farm

After his mother's death in 1988, du Pont assumed stewardship of Liseter Hall Farm and renamed it "Foxcatcher Farm" after his father's famed Thoroughbred racing stable.[27] At the time, he was not living in the manor house; he occupied a smaller house on the estate. Days after his mother's death, he moved into the main house.[28] He maintained much of her work, but added a wrestling facility and supporting buildings for that interest.

After his arrest, du Pont sold off the dairy herd, nearly 70 Guernseys, in the fall of 1996. He ordered all the buildings at Foxcatcher Farm to be painted a matte black. The Delaware Museum of Natural History, which du Pont formerly headed and which held the dairy farm in trust, sold that portion in January 1998 after his conviction and sentencing to prison. A 123-acre (0.50 km2) segment is now occupied by the campus of the Episcopal Academy, a private independent K–12 school founded in 1785, which moved there in 2008 from split campuses located in the nearby Philadelphia Main Line communities of Merion and Devon.[29] The 90-year-old du Pont mansion, Liseter Hall, in which du Pont was raised and on which property he had lived for 57 years, was demolished by Glenn Miller Demolition in January 2013.[30] The mansion stood on a 400-acre (1.6 km2) portion of the property that is now being developed by Toll Brothers into a "master planned community of 449 luxury homes" called "Liseter Estate."[31] Most of the outbuildings were torn down, though an existing 7,000-square-foot historical barn will be used as a clubhouse in the new development.

Disputed will

Du Pont had been worth an estimated $200 million in 1986, about $560 million in current dollars.[32] His will bequeathed 80 percent of his estate to Bulgarian wrestler Valentin Yordanov, an Olympic champion who had trained at Foxcatcher,[33] and Yordanov's relatives. In June 2011, du Pont's niece Beverly A. du Pont Gauggel and nephew William H. du Pont filed a petition to challenge the will in Media, Pennsylvania, asserting that du Pont was not "of sound mind" when he made his will. The petition claims that during that period, John du Pont asserted alternately that he was Jesus Christ, the Dalai Lama, and a Russian tsar.[34]

That petition was dismissed, and while appealed, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania upheld a Delaware County Orphans Court order dismissing a challenge to the will.[35] Former Delaware County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Joseph Cronin dismissed the challenge for lack of standing, finding that because the niece and nephew were not named in two successive wills going back to 2006, they would not be harmed if the September 2010 will were deemed valid. A three-judge panel of the Superior Court affirmed that ruling on November 19, 2012.[35]

Representation in media

  • Du Pont's murder of Dave Schultz is recounted in the 2013 true crime book Wrestling with Madness.[36]
  • The 2014 film Foxcatcher, directed by Bennett Miller, was based on the events related to the Schultz brothers and exploring John du Pont's relationship with them. For his portrayal of du Pont, Steve Carell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.[37]
  • Olympic wrestling champion Mark Schultz, the younger brother of Dave Schultz, wrote Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold.[38][39]
  • ESPN Films featured the story of du Pont and Team Foxcatcher in the 2015 30 for 30 series film The Prince of Pennsylvania. The film featured several former members of the Foxcatcher wrestling team, including Mark Schultz, as well as John du Pont's ex-wife Gale Denny and Mark and Dave Schultz's parents. The film, which was directed by Jesse Vile, premiered on October 20, 2015, and got its title from a letter Dave Schultz wrote to Prince Albert of Monaco rejecting his proposal for Schultz to become the coach of a wrestling team in Monaco.
  • Netflix produced the 2016 film documentary entitled Team Foxcatcher which tells the story of John du Pont's involvement with wrestling and Foxcatcher Farm using interviews with many of those present as well as archival footage.

Bibliography

Books

  • Philippine Birds (1971) ISBN 9780913176030
  • South Pacific Birds (1976) ISBN 0-913176-04-4
  • Living Volutes: a Monograph of the Recent Volutidae of the World ISBN 9780913176016

Papers

References

  1. ^ a b c Jeré Longman (December 9, 2010). "John E. du Pont, Heir Who Killed an Olympian, Dies at 72". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012. John E. du Pont, an heir to the du Pont chemical fortune whose benevolent support of Olympic athletes deteriorated into delusion and ended in the shooting death of a champion wrestler, died Thursday in a western Pennsylvania prison. He was 72. Mr. du Pont was found unresponsive in his cell at Laurel Highlands State Prison near Somerset, Pa., a prison spokeswoman told The Associated Press. ...
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Longman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "The Forbes 400 : Walton Tops List of Richest Americans". Los Angeles Times. October 15, 1985. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  4. ^ "Last hurrah for historic Liseter Hall Farm". Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. September 2005. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011.
  5. ^ Bowden, Mark; Bensen, Clea (February 4, 1996). "The Prince Of Newtown Square John Du Pont Had Millions But Lacked The Thing He Really Wanted: Expertise. So He Spent Money To Make It Look As If He Had It". Philadelphia Media Network (Digital) LLC. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  6. ^ James A. Kushlan (1991). "In Memoriam: Oscar T. Owre, 1917-1990" (PDF). The Auk. 108 (3): 705–708. doi:10.2307/4088110. JSTOR 4088110. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 4, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  7. ^ "DuPont heir dies in prison". UPI. December 9, 2010. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  8. ^ Andrew Gurevich (October 25, 2015). "Episode 7 - Mark Schultz". On the Block Radio.com− (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:04:45. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  9. ^ Newsweek staff. "AN ECCENTRIC HEIR'S WRESTLE WITH DEATH". Newsweek. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  10. ^ Munroe, John (2006). History of Delaware. ISBN 9780874139471. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  11. ^ Chilton, Glen (September 8, 2009). The Curse of the Labrador Duck: My Obsessive Quest to the Edge of Extinction. ISBN 9781439124994. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Hewitt, Bill (February 12, 1996). "A Man Possessed". People Magazine. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  13. ^ a b Pirro, J.F. "The Foxcatcher Murder". MainLine Today. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  14. ^ "Last Will and Testament of John Eleuthere du Pont" (PDF). Delaware Online. September 16, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  15. ^ "'Foxcatcher' fodder: John du Pont's bizarre downfall". Courierpostonline.com. January 11, 2015. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  16. ^ Rachlin, Harvey (1996). Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones, and Einstein's Brain: The Remarkable Stories Behind the Great Artifacts of History, From Antiquity to the Modern Era. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-6406-0.
  17. ^ a b "Stamp owned by Delaware murderer John du Pont sells for $9.5 million". Delawareonline.com. June 18, 2014. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  18. ^ "The Three Previous Stockholmia World Philatelic Exhibitions" by Bengt Bengtsson, Bulletin 1, STOCKHOLMIA2019, Sweden, 2017, pp. 30-33.
  19. ^ "John du Pont and collecting stamps in jail" Archived May 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine The Stamp Blog, March 15, 2015
  20. ^ "The Value of Open Space, Save Open Space, Everything Old is New Again". Save Open Space. April 1999. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011.
  21. ^ Alice Higgins (August 28, 1967). "Trials Of A Busy Pentathlete: Young John du Pont, host to the national championships, found that organizing the event could be a handicap for a dedicated competitor". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on March 3, 2014.
  22. ^ Chapter XI: "20th-Century Personages and the Arts" Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Historic Newtown Square, Newtown Square Historical Preservation Society
  23. ^ "SILVERBACKS: 1994 Masters 3rd Freestyle Wrestling World Championships". silverbackswrestling.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011.
  24. ^ John Greenwald (February 5, 1996). "Blood on the Mat: The killing of an Olympic gold medalists suggest that John du Pont, patron of wrestling, was no angel". Time Magazine. Mubarak Dahir, Sharon E. Epperson. Archived from the original on March 10, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  25. ^ "Du Pont heir dies in prison". United Press International. December 9, 2010. Archived from the original on December 12, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2010. Du Pont fortune heir John E. du Pont, convicted of the 1996 murder of Olympic wrestler David Schulz, died of natural causes, Pennsylvania prison officials said. He was 72. Corrections spokeswoman Sue Bensinger said du Pont was found unresponsive in his Laurel Highland State Correctional Facility cell in Somerset County Thursday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Bensinger said he had been ill for some time.
  26. ^ Mari A. Schaefer (February 16, 2011). "John du Pont was buried in his wrestling singlet". philly.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  27. ^ Michael Yockel (September 2005). "Last hurrah for historic Liseter Hall Farm". Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2005.
  28. ^ "When Life In The Du Pont Mansion Began To Crumble At Foxcatcher, The Obsessions Of The Son Quickly Overrode His Dead Mother's Blueblood Elegance". Articles.philly.com. December 10, 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  29. ^ Gammage, Jeff "Episcopal Academy prepped for big change Expansion trumps angst over move from Merion" Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Philadelphia Inquirer, October 21, 2007
  30. ^ Bannan, Pete "Historic DuPont mansion goes under the wrecker's ball" Archived March 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Main Line Media News, January 25, 2013.
  31. ^ "Liseter Estate at Route 252 and Goshen Road in Newtown Square to be Developed by Toll Brothers" Archived June 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine PRWeb, November 20, 2012
  32. ^ "Death In Prison For Ex-Forbes 400 Member". Forbes. December 10, 2010. Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  33. ^ Знаменити борци, възпитаници на НСА [Famous Wrestlers from the National Sports Academy] (in Bulgarian). National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski". Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  34. ^ Alex Rose (June 15, 2011). "Du Pont Relatives Contest Validity of Late Killer's Will". Delaware County Daily Times. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  35. ^ a b "Superior Court: Du Pont relatives have no standing to contest will". Main Line Media News. December 6, 2012. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  36. ^ "Wrestling With Madness: John E. Du Pont and the Foxcatcher Farm Murder". Absolute Crime. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  37. ^ "Full List of the Oscar Nominations 2015". Award Show Talk. 2015. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  38. ^ Mark Schultz; David Thomas (November 18, 2014). Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780698188709. Archived from the original on May 17, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  39. ^ Strauss, Chris (November 14, 2014). "Where are the missing seven years in 'Foxcatcher'?". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
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