John Eleuthère du Pont

About John Eleuthère du Pont

Who is it?: Philanthropist
Birth Day: November 22, 1938
Birth Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., United States
Died On: December 9, 2010(2010-12-09) (aged 72)\nState Correctional Institution – Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania
Birth Sign: Sagittarius
Cause of death: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Education: Haverford School (1957) University of Pennsylvania (1960) B.S., University of Miami (1965) Ph.D., Villanova University (1973)
Spouse(s): Gale Wenk (m. 1983; annulled after 90 days; d. 1987)
Parent(s): William du Pont, Jr. Jean Liseter Austin

John Eleuthère du Pont Net Worth

John Eleuthère du Pont was born on November 22, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., United States, is Philanthropist. John Eleuthère du Pont was someone who can’t be easily categorized. The heir to the Du Pont family, one of the members of the Forbes 400 Richest Americans, Du Pont is more famously known for his philanthropy and sports enthusiasm. He was a self-styled wrestling coach and the founder of the wrestling academy at the Foxcatcher Farm. He supported the pentathlon and amateur sports in the US and sponsored the USA wrestling. Apart from being a sports enthusiast, he had expertise in ornithology, philately, Conchology and had published books in these areas of learning. He was also the founder and director of the Delaware Museum of Natural History. His eccentric behavior started catching eyes, around the time when Du Pont turned 60. He became increasingly disruptive and paranoid, which led to him murdering Dave Schultz, an Olympic gold medalist freestyle wrestler. He shot Schultz at the driveway of the latter’s residence, inside du Pont’s estate. The court declared him as not insane and the verdict was ‘guilty but mentally ill’. Du Pont was sentenced to prison for 13-30 years. He was 72 years of age when he died, inside the prison. His life is portrayed in the 2014 film ‘Foxcatcher’.
John Eleuthère du Pont is a member of Miscellaneous

💰John Eleuthère du Pont Net worth: $200 Million

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Biography/Timeline

1920

During the 1920s and 1930s, the couple 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 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.

1938

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 200 acres of land given to his parents at their wedding by his maternal grandfather. Both his parents' families had emigrated from Europe to the United States at the beginning of the 19th century and became highly successful.

1957

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. Today it is called The Pavilion.

1972

In 1972, du Pont founded and directed the Delaware Museum of Natural History and contributed to Villanova University and other institutions.

1980

Du Pont's friends said the shooting was uncharacteristic. Joy Hansen Leutner, a Triathlete from Hermosa Beach, California, lived for two years on the estate. Leutner said du Pont helped her through a stressful period in the mid 1980s. She later said, "With my family and friends, John gave me a new lease on life. He gave more than money; he gave himself emotionally." She expressed incredulity about the killing. She is quoted as saying: "There's no way John in his right mind would have killed Dave." Newtown Township supervisor John S. Custer Jr. said, "At the time of the murder, John didn't know what he was doing." Charles King, Sr., a du Pont stable hand and manager for 30 years, claimed he knew du Pont well throughout his life. King's son, Charles "Chuckie" King Jr., said he considered du Pont his friend during his childhood.

1983

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. They lived together for less than six months. 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. The divorce became final in 1987. Du Pont's will excluded her from inheriting any of his estate. In 1987, it was estimated that John du Pont was worth $200 million.

1986

Du Pont had been worth an estimated US $200 million in 1986, about $450 million in current dollars. His will bequeathed 80 percent of his estate to Bulgarian Wrestler Valentin Yordanov, an Olympic champion who had trained at Foxcatcher, 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.

1988

After his mother's death in 1988, du Pont assumed stewardship of Liseter Farm and renamed it "Foxcatcher Farm" after his father's famed Thoroughbred racing stable. John never lived in the manor house; he occupied a smaller house on the estate. Days after his mother's death, he moved into the main house. He maintained much of her work, but added a wrestling facility and supporting buildings for that interest.

1990

In the 1990s, friends and acquaintances were concerned about his erratic and paranoid behavior, but his wealth shielded him.

1992

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. 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; in 1994 in Rome, Italy; and in 1995 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

1996

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 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. The 90-year-old du Pont mansion, Liseter Hall, in which du Pont was raised and had lived for 57 years, was demolished by Glen Miller Demolition in January 2013. The mansion stood on a 400-acre portion of the property that is now being developed by Toll Brothers into a "master planned community of 449 luxury homes" called "Liseter Estate." 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.

1997

Du Pont pleaded "not guilty by reason of insanity." The insanity defense was thrown out by the court, and on February 25, 1997, a jury found him guilty of third-degree murder but mentally ill. In Pennsylvania, third-degree murder is a lesser charge than first-degree (intentional) or second-degree (during the perpetration of a felony), and indicates a lack of intent to kill. In Pennsylvania Criminal code, "insanity" applies to someone whose "disease or defect" leaves him unable either to understand that his conduct is wrong or to conform it to the law.

2009

Du Pont's attorneys filed appeals. In 2000, his case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the verdict. Du Pont was first eligible for parole on January 29, 2009; it was denied. Du Pont's maximum sentence would have ended on January 29, 2026, when he would have been 87. In 2010, the 3rd Circuit U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia rejected all but one issue raised on appeal (involving his use of a Bulgarian prescription drug, scopolamine, before he fatally shot Schultz in 1996), and requested written briefs.

2010

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 Somerset Community Hospital. He was buried in his red Foxcatcher wrestling singlet, in accordance with his will, at the Du Pont de Nemours Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.

2012

That petition was dismissed, and while appealed, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania has upheld a Delaware County Orphans Court order dismissing a challenge on the will on November 19, 2012. 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.

2013

The jury verdict of "guilty but mentally ill" meant the sentencing would be referred to the judge, Patricia Jenkins. She could have sentenced du Pont to 5 to 40 years. Du Pont was sentenced to 13 to 30 years' incarceration and was housed at the State Correctional Institution – Mercer, a minimum-security institution in the Pennsylvania prison system. Du Pont was initially confined to Cresson Correctional Institute. Following the guilty verdict, Nancy Schultz, Dave's widow, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against du Pont. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing anonymous sources, reported du Pont was to pay Schultz at least $35 million.

2014

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. 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. 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 go to the family of Bulgarian Wrestler Valentin Jordanov Dimitrov and 20 percent goes to the Eurasian Pacific Wildlife Foundation, based in Paoli, Pennsylvania, a group du Pont founded to support Pacific wildlife. 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". While du Pont continued to buy stamps while in prison, he was not allowed to bring them there.

2015

During an October 2015 podcast, Mark Schultz revealed that when John was about 30 years old, a horse he was riding threw him onto a fence, injuring his testicles. They became infected and were removed, resulting in androgynous characteristics for the remainder of his life.