James Michael Cline

James Michael Cline (1960 – July 16, 2024) was an American financier and the founder of Fandango.^[1][2]

Early life and education

Cline was born in 1960.^[3] His mother, Rose Marie Cline, retired as a division administrator at the Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University in New York.^[3] His father, James G. Cline, was a managing partner at Dames & Moore.^[3]

Cline earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard University.^[3]

Career

Cline began his entrepreneurial career in the early 1980s by importing hand warmers from Japan.^[4] His private-equity firm, Accretive, which invested in Fandango, was also involved in a controversy during the 2000s.^[4] The controversy arose after the firm created a debt-collection business while also holding a stake in the National Arbitration Forum, a major consumer-debt-arbitration body.^[4][5]

At the time of his death, Cline was the executive chairman of Juxtapose, which supported the launch of tech businesses in sectors including health care and property management.^[4] He owned properties in affluent areas such as Palm Beach, Florida; Greenwich, Connecticut; and the Hamptons.^[4] Cline also served as chairman of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, focusing on the preservation of big cats, including jaguars.^[4][6]

Cline, days after gallbladder surgery, left a suicide note before jumping from the 20th floor, landing in a third-story courtyard of the Kimberly Hotel in Manhattan.^[7]