The founder of movie ticket sales company Fandango died Tuesday after falling from a luxury New York hotel in what appeared to be suicide, authorities said.
J. Michael Cline, 64, of Palm Beach, Florida, was found “unconscious and unresponsive” Tuesday morning.
New York police were called to the Kimberly Hotel, located at 145 East 50th Street in Manhattan, shortly after 10 a.m., where they found Cline with injuries “indicative of a fall from an elevated position,” police said. He was pronounced dead at 10:30 a.m.
An investigation is ongoing, with police noting that “no foul play is suspected.”
NBC News has contacted the medical examiner’s office for the cause and manner of death.
Cline was a serial entrepreneur. He founded Fandango in 2000 and left in 2011. The company is now owned by NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he studied at Cornell University and Harvard Business School. He founded Acumen, a laboratory operations outsourcing company for large hospitals, in 2010 and served as its president and director until 2017. He also founded Accolade, a healthcare services provider for large employers and hospital systems, in 2007 and served as its founder and president until 2022.
He also founded and ran Accretive, a company that funds startups. NBC News has reached out to Accretive for comment.
Cline also served as chairman of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. In a 2020 annual report, he spoke of his passion for the nation’s wildlife, writing, “The importance of protecting conservation gains and maintaining momentum to protect wildlife and natural habitats cannot be overstated.”
Cline married his wife Pamela in 1995, according to a New York Times wedding announcement, and they share six children, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
Gn entert
News Source : www.nbcnews.com
