Jack Wheeler | |
|---|---|
 Wheeler in his military days | |
| Born | John Parsons Wheeler III December 14, 1944 Laredo, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | c. December 30, 2010 (aged 66) Delaware, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Homicide[1] |
| Body discovered | Cherry Island Landfill, Wilmington, Delaware |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Alma mater | United States Military Academy Harvard Business School Yale Law School |
| Employer | Mitre Corp. |
| Spouse(s) | Elisa Wheeler (divorced) Katherine Klyce |
| Children | 2 |
John Parsons Wheeler III (December 14, 1944 – c. December 30, 2010), known as Jack Wheeler, was an American veteran, businessman, and activist, who held multiple positions in the U.S. government for five decades and helped create the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He was murdered by an unknown person in or around Wilmington, Delaware, in 2010.
In the 1960s, Wheeler served in a non-combat position in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and worked for the Pentagon as a staffer and systems analyst. In the 1970s, he was a senior planner for Amtrak, official of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. In the 1980s, he was the CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and an aide to the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. In the 1990s, he was an activist for the deaf and for environmental concerns, and in the 2000s, he was an aide to the George W. Bush administration and consultant to the Mitre Corporation.[2][3]
Wheeler had homes in New Castle, Delaware, and New York City. On December 28th, 2010, a man matching his description threw smoke bombs into a house neighboring Wheeler's in New Castle. Wheeler was last seen alive in Wilmington on December 30; he was acting unusual, though this may have been an aspect of his bipolar disorder. On the 31st, his dead body was found while being dumped from a garbage truck into a nearby landfill. The truck had received its contents from a commercial trash bin in Newark, Delaware, earlier that day. Police labeled the death a homicide, but whether a political motivation was involved is unknown.
- ^ "Officials say defense consultant died from assault". Fox News. January 28, 2011.
- ^ "Biography of John Wheeler" (PDF).
- ^ Chase, Randall (January 3, 2011). "Body of US military expert found in Del. landfill". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2011-01-12. Retrieved January 4, 2011.