The only Forbes 400 member convicted of murder

Art · Published 20 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: John du Pont was a man of immense wealth and scientific achievement, a renowned ornithologist who discovered dozens of bird species. Yet, his life spiraled into a paranoid fantasy of athletic greatness, culminating in a violent crime that shocked the American sporting world.

John du Pont was a member of one of America's wealthiest families, inheriting a fortune that allowed him to live on the 800-acre Liseter Hall Farm in Pennsylvania. While he was a legitimate scientist—credited with discovering two dozen bird species and founding the Delaware Museum of Natural History in 1957—his personal life was marked by increasing instability. By the 1980s, his interests shifted toward amateur freestyle wrestling. He established Foxcatcher Farm, a state-of-the-art training facility where he provided stipends and housing for elite athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Dave Schultz.

Behind the scenes of his philanthropy, du Pont’s behavior became increasingly erratic. From the 1980s onward, he was known to drink heavily and use cocaine. He suffered from paranoid delusions, particularly following his mother's death in 1988, and required those around him to cooperate in his fantasy that he was a world-class athlete. His domestic life was equally volatile; his brief marriage in 1983 ended when his wife fled, fearing for her life after he allegedly pointed a gun at her.

The tension peaked on January 26, 1996, when du Pont shot and killed Dave Schultz at Foxcatcher Farm. Following a 48-hour standoff, du Pont was captured and eventually convicted of third-degree murder in 1997. Although he was adjudged to be mentally ill, he was not ruled insane. He received a sentence of 13 to 30 years and died in prison in 2010. His story remains a chilling study of how extreme wealth can shield a deteriorating psyche from scrutiny until it reaches a breaking point.

This narrative of a wealthy man's descent into violence was later dramatized in the 2014 film Foxcatcher.

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