11.16.2008

Greenspan's Body Count: International Man of Misery

Today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count comes from the tony London neighborhood of Chelsea:
On a mild Thursday morning in late September, Kirk Stephenson, a London investment-fund executive, ate breakfast with his wife and eight-year-old son, then drove to a train station about 30 miles from his Chelsea home.

As an express train approached, Mr. Stephenson stepped onto the tracks, according to British Transport Police. The driver applied emergency brakes but couldn't stop in time. Mr. Stephenson, 47 years old, died at the scene.

What was ailing this man who seemed to have it all? He left no suicide note, so the answer remains a mystery. But many friends and business associates in the U.S., London and his native New Zealand say Mr. Stephenson was a casualty of the global financial crisis, his pressures culminating with the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Stephenson's fund, Olivant, had bought a large position in UBS, which is bad enough. But they had held the shares at Lehman when it collapsed, and they were unlikely to recover them.

It's interesting that Greenspan's killing spree started with unsophisticated, lower-middle-class borrowers who got in over their heads on a mortgage, and now has trended toward high-earners and would-be financial titans like Barry Fox and Kirk Stephenson. Greenspan's Body Count now stands at sixty-one:

Kirk Stephenson
Barry Fox
Dallas Dwayne Carter
David Hetzel
Sharron Hetzel
Cliff Kendall
Pamela Ross
Roland Gore
Mrs. Gore
Wanda Dunn
Karthik Rajaram
Subasri Rajaram
Krishna Rajaram
Ganesha Rajaram
Arjuna Rajaram
Indra Ramasesham
Joe X
Isabelle Jarka
Robert Wagner
Lt. Michael Howe
John Roberts
Palmer C. White
Dianne Pittman White
Ed Boesen
Edwin F. Rachleff
Carlene Balderrama
Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry

Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

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