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— Finn M.W. Caspersen
WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — Finn M.W. Caspersen, a former chief executive of the financial services firm Beneficial Corp., has died. He was 67.
Caspersen died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, Police Capt. Edward St. Clair said. He declined to comment on a motive. Rhode Island police found Caspersen's body on the grounds of the Shelter Harbor Golf Club after being asked to check on him Monday by a concerned family member.
Caspersen, a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, was a philanthropist and fundraiser who had served as chairman and chief executive of Beneficial Corp. from 1976 to 1998. The company was later sold and is now part of HSBC.
He was a major benefactor to hospitals and universities, including Harvard, and Republican politicians. He was also former chairman of the U.S. Equestrian Team.
Caspersen was a close political ally of former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean Sr., who won races for governor in 1981 and 1985 with Caspersen's help.
He gave $5 million to Drew University while Kean was president, and gave generously to Peddie School, a private boarding school in Hightstown. Caspersen led a record-setting fundraising drive for Harvard Law School and a room at the library there bears his name.
He was a fundraiser and adviser to Kean.
Caspersen was also chairman of Save Ellis Island, a nonprofit organization formed to help restore crumbling buildings that once housed sick immigrants on the New Jersey side of Ellis Island.
