James McDonald; led investment firm
James S. McDonald, president and chief executive of investment management firm Rockefeller & Co., died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities in Bristol County said.
Mr. McDonald, 56, was found in his vehicle at about 3 p.m. Sunday behind a car dealership in Dartmouth, said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the Bristol district attorney’s office.
There was no note, but Mr. McDonald “made a phone call to his wife earlier in the day,’’ Miliote said Tuesday, without getting into specifics of the call.
Mr. McDonald had been president and chief executive of the New York investment firm since 2001. The company was started in 1882 by John D. Rockefeller to manage the family’s assets.
Rockefeller & Co., which also has offices in Boston, Washington, and Wilmington, Del., offers investment management services to families, foundations, and endowments. The company had $25 billion under administration at the end of last year.
Mr. McDonald received an undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1974 and a law degree from the University of Virginia. Before joining Rockefeller & Co., he served as chief executive at Pell Rudman Trust Co. in Boston.