J. Clifford Baxter

John Clifford "Cliff" Baxter (September 27, 1958 – January 25, 2002) was a former Enron Corporation executive who resigned in May 2001. He sold $30 million worth of Enron stock during the months prior to Enron's bankruptcy. Reportedly, Baxter clashed with CEO Jeffrey Skilling over questionable Enron business practices. Before his death, he had agreed to testify before Congress in the Enron case.

Baxter was born in Amityville, New York, and graduated from New York University. After graduating, he served in the U.S. Air Force from 1980 to 1985 and rose to the rank of captain. After he left the military, he enrolled at Columbia University, where he received an MBA degree two years later. He had a wife, Carol, and two children, a son and a daughter.

Suicide

On January 25, 2002, Baxter was found dead in his black Mercedes-Benz S500 in Sugar Land, Texas, with a gunshot wound through the right side of his head. The ammunition used was a "Glaser Safety Slug", which at the time was misreported as rat-shot.^[1] A revolver was found in his car and a suicide note was found in his wife's car at their home. An autopsy was performed by the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office and the death was ruled a suicide.^[1][2]

His suicide note was hand printed, though not signed, for his wife Carol. The letter expressed Baxter's despair over the direction his life had taken.^[3] In Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, a co-worker discloses that Baxter was a manic depressive.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "The Mysterious Death Of An Enron Exec". CBS News. 2002-04-10. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/10/eveningnews/main505845.shtml. 
2. ^ Former Enron executive's death ruled a suicide, USA Today.
3. ^ "Suicide note". Archived from the original on 2005-11-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20051120080658/http://images.chron.com/content/news/photos/02/04/11/letter/letter2.jpg. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 

External links

• BBC profile of J. Clifford Baxter
• The Mysterious Death Of An Enron Exec
• Police Chief Answers Questions, Assumptions Of Case
• J. Clifford Baxter at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Baxter, Clifford J.
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Date of birth	1958-09-27
Place of birth
Date of death	2002-01-25
Place of death