The man who jumped to his death from a luxury Midtown hotel this week is believed to be the wealthy co-founder of Fandango, a movie-ticket sales company that has been hit hard by the pandemic, officials and police said Wednesday.
According to law enforcement officials, J. Michael Klein, a 64-year-old “serial entrepreneur” and father of six from Greenwich, Connecticut, fell from the 20th floor of the Kimberly Hotel on Tuesday morning and landed in a third-floor courtyard.
Klein, who was also managing partner at Accretive, a funding firm for startups, left what appeared to be a suicide note before jumping from the building on East 50th Street near Lexington Avenue, the people added.
The contents of the memo were not made public Wednesday.
Klein owns millions of dollars' worth of homes in the Hamptons and Palm Beach, Florida, including a sprawling lakefront mansion he and his wife purchased for $20.75 million in December 2020, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.
Fandango has struggled in recent years due in part to declining cinema attendance caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and reported a net loss last year despite the company reportedly attempting to pivot to streaming.
Klein graduated from Cornell University and earned an MBA from Harvard University, and was described in a recent Fordham article as a “serial entrepreneur” who inspires students to dream big and “work with people you can trust.”
He also served as chairman of Juxtapose, a company that focuses on funding startups building consumer-centric companies, according to his online resume.
According to the Harvard alumni website, Klein founded technology solutions company R1 RCM along with small business insurance company Insureon and education solutions company Everspring.
He married his wife, Pamela, in 1995, according to a marriage announcement in The New York Times.
Pamela Klein and Harvard University did not return calls from The Washington Post on Wednesday.
