logo
livingroom

decorative bar

biographies


corner Last update of this page: July 11th 2008 corner
John Eleuthère du Pont
(November 22, 1939 - living) U.S.A.

John Eleuthère du Pont

Ornithologist

separator

John du Pont is the son of William du Pont, Jr. and Jean Liseter Austin. Prior to his arrest and conviction, he was an ornithologist, a former coach and financial sponsor of sport wrestling, and a philanthropist.

John du Pont graduated from the University of Miami in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology. An ornithologist, du Pont is credited with the discovery of two dozen species of birds. He was also a philatelist, and anonymously paid $935,000 during a 1980 auction for one of the rarest stamps in the world, the British Guiana 1856 1c black on magenta.

In 1983, he married occupational therapist Gale Wenk but emotional instability was already evident and the difficult marriage ended in a 1985 divorce.

Du Pont largely funded a new basketball arena at Villanova University which opened in 1986. Originally, the venue was called du Pont Pavilion, but his name was removed from the facility after his conviction. Today, it is called simply The Pavilion.

Evidence of gayness is circumstantial but compelling. Wrestling coach Richard Deschatelets: "Nobody would say out in the open that Du Pont's a homosexual, even though that's [what] just about everybody figured out just [by] the way he handled things." Ron Good, editor, Amateur Wrestling News: "I think that Du Pont was most likely a gay person, and he certainly would make attempts to do whatever he wanted to do with the wrestlers that he had in there."

Former employee Andy Metzger sued du Pont for $555k, claiming the millionaire had made homosexual advances at him, and then was subsequently fired. The suit was settled out of court, though it is not known if Metzger took up du Pont's offer of a wrestling match to determine the outcome.

John du Pont's Team Foxcatcher practiced at the facility on his estate in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. The trainer was David Schultz, and members included Kurt Angle.

On 26 January 1996 he shot dead Olympic gold medalist wrestler David Schultz at the wrestling facility of du Pont's Team Foxcatcher, without apparent provocation and with Schultz's wife among several witnesses. After the shooting, the multimillionaire locked himself in his mansion for two days, while he negotiated with police on the telephone. Police turned off his power, and were able to capture him when he went outside to fix his heater.

Expert psychiatric testimony described du Pont as a paranoid schizophrenic who believed Schultz was part of an international conspiracy to kill him. On February 26, 1997, a jury found him guilty of murder but mentally ill.

separator

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - et alii

Click on the letter D to go back to the list of names

corner © Matt & Andrej Koymasky, 1997 - 2008 corner