The jumper who leaped to his death from a luxury hotel in Midtown this week was identified as the wealthy co-founder of movie ticket firm Fandango and a philanthropist who advocated for the protection of tigers, sources and cops said Wednesday.
J. Michael Cline — a 64-year-old “serial entrepreneur” and father of six with a home in Greenwich, Connecticut — plunged from the 20th floor of The Kimberly Hotel and landed in a third-floor courtyard Tuesday morning, according to law enforcement sources.
Cline, who was also a managing partner at the startup-funding firm Accretive, left an apparent suicide note before jumping from the building on East 50th Street near Lexington Avenue, the sources added.
The contents of the note were not immediately known Wednesday. The manner of his death came as a shock to those that knew him and happened only days after a gallbladder surgery, sources said.
Cline owned multi-million 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.
Although Cline had long ago cut ties with Fandango, the company struggled in part due to movie theater attendance dwindling during the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm reportedly tried to pivot to streaming, but its parent company NBC-Universal’s profits in the category representing Fandango reportedly fell 40.8% in 2020.
Cline graduated from Cornell University and got an MBA from Harvard University and was described in a recent Fordham University article as a “serial entrepreneur” who inspired students to dream big and “work with people you trust.”
Cline was chairman of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, where he was behind preservation work for animals around the globe, according to sources.
He was also the executive chairman of Juxtapose, which specializes in funding start-ups that build consumer-focused firms, according to an online resume.
Cline 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.
He married his wife, Pamela, in 1995, according to a New York Times wedding announcement.
Pamela Cline and Harvard University didn’t return calls from The Post Wednesday.
