David Christopher Bird (c. 1959–2014) was an American journalist who covered

energy market Energy markets are national and international regulated markets that deal specifically with the trade and supply of energy. Energy market may refer to an electricity market, but can also refer to other sources of energy. Typically energy developme ...

s for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and was deputy

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edit ...

for Dow Jones Energy Service. He was known for his ability to detect emerging market trends, particularly the decline in oil prices that began in 2014, before they otherwise became apparent, through close analysis of data. Before working at the ''Journal'' he had worked for Dow Jones overseas, based in its London office.Melanie Grayce West
Body of Missing Wall Street Journal Reporter Found in New Jersey: David Bird disappeared after going for a walk near his home in 2014
''Wall Street Journal'' (March 19, 2015). In early 2014 he left his

Millington, New Jersey Millington is an unincorporated community located within Long Hill Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Geography The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 07946. Other communities in Long Hill Township in ...

, home for a short walk and never returned. Local search efforts, hampered by that year's severe winter weather, failed to find any trace of him.

Conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

surfaced, especially after an erroneous report that his credit card had been used overseas, suggesting his disappearance was part of a pattern of suspicious deaths in the financial sector. However, when his body was finally found in a nearby river 14 months later, the coroner ruled his death an accidental drowning and said there were no signs of foul play. A native of the Trenton area, Bird was a graduate of

Rider University Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It consists of four academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and West ...

. In addition to his journalistic work he was an outdoor enthusiast who led Boy Scout hiking trips and ran marathons. He did the latter to raise awareness for

organ donation Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or dead with the assent of the next of kin. Donation may be for re ...

, since his life had been saved by a

liver transplant Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the replacement of a diseased liver with the healthy liver from another person (allograft). Liver transplantation is a treatment option for end-stage liver disease and acute liver failure, al ...

following a

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes ( jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal ...

infection he suffered in the early 2000s.

Early life and education

Bird was born in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. After attending a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

elementary school in Hamilton Township, where the family lived, he went to Notre Dame High School in nearby Lawrenceville. He graduated from

Rider College Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It consists of four academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and West ...

in 1980.

Career

Bird worked at the '' News-Press'' of Fort Myers, Florida before joining Dow Jones Newswires, and subsequently transferring to Dow Jones's London office. Five years into his career, Bird traveled extensively through Europe and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, returning to the U.S. in 1988. Bird worked for Dow Jones & Company (the publisher of the ''Wall Street Journal''), for more than twenty years, rising to become deputy managing editor of the Dow Jones Energy Service. He was a key reporter on energy markets. After his death, ''Journal'' editor-in-chief Gerard Baker praised Bird's reportorial zeal. "His ability to navigate the vast troves of public oil data was unmatched," Baker wrote in a memo to staff. "At 10:30 a.m. on Wednesdays, he could often be seen hunched over his computer, sifting through spreadsheets and crunching numbers just released by the Energy Information Administration. He was often the first to gain insight into important energy-market trends."

Disappearance

Late in the afternoon of January 11, 2014, Bird, who was recovering from a brief stomach illness, left his home in the Millington section of

Long Hill Township, New Jersey Long Hill Township is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 8,702, reflecting a decline of 75 (−0.9%) from the 8,777 counted in the 2000 Census, which had ...

. He told his wife that he planned to go for a brief walk around nearby wooded trails, clad in a distinctive red raincoat with yellow zippers, jeans and sneakers.Al Baker
Body of David Bird, Missing Wall Street Journal Reporter, Is Found
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' (March 19, 2015). After his return, he said, he intended to take down the family's

Christmas lights Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom g ...

. He left his cell phone to recharge in his absence. By the evening, however, he had not returned. His wife called the police and reported him missing. Finding him alive was of great importance to the family, since he was required to take anti- rejection drugs due to his liver transplant. Those had been left at the house as well. "This wasn't right," his wife said later. "Something was wrong." A fellow Boy Scout leader noted that Bird "was stuck somewhere, he knows how to shelter himself enough out of the elements. He knows how to signal if he can."

Search

A few days after Bird disappeared,

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

reported that his credit card had been used in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. His family, the network claimed, believed his disappearance was not an accident and somehow related to his work. The family, through a friend, said those were not serious investigative leads, just theories being floated by those looking for answers. Later they learned that the card had not, in fact, been used in Mexico after he disappeared; it had instead just been hacked. Later, his wife Nancy called that report "a distraction, honestly." Early efforts to search included helicopter patrols by New Jersey State Police, with Morris County park police following up on horseback and

all-terrain vehicle An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is stra ...

while divers searched the nearby Passaic River. Searchers suffered a setback when the winter weather turned colder than usual two weeks later followed by heavy snow throughout the region throughout the next two months; they continued their efforts by retracing their steps along the sides of local roadways, looking for signs of an unreported motor vehicle accident or personal items. In March, when the snow melted, the search resumed, focusing on areas nearby where Bird had been known to hike and retracing earlier routes. In May local police said their goal was to have the entire area within a radius of the Bird home thoroughly searched. Dow Jones offered a $10,000 reward for information on Bird's whereabouts, and colleagues and others raised $35,000 in contributions for Bird's family.Paul Milo
Authorities say David Bird died in accidental drowning, report says
NJ Advance Media for

NJ.com NJ.com is a digital news content provider and website in New Jersey owned by Advance Publications. According to a report in ''The New York Times'' in 2012, it was the largest provider of digital news in the state at the time. In 2018, comScore r ...

(June 10, 2015).Paul Milo & Justin Zaremba
Reporter David Bird, found dead in river, was 'a mentor, a friend, and a model of integrity'
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com (March 20, 2015). Dow Jones also kept paying Bird's salary through the end of July 2014, changing his status to unpaid leave of absence after that point.Louis C. Hochman

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com (December 18, 2014). After Bird was taken off the payroll, the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees 1096, the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

representing ''Journal'' reporters, donated $10,000 to the family and matched members' contributions up to another $10,000. Although no new leads had surfaced, on the first anniversary of Bird's disappearance his family and friends led a candlelight vigil and walk through a nearby park where he had often walked, ending in a bonfire, to keep attention on the case.

Discovery of body

On March 18, 2015, a family website asking for assistance in the search went online. That day, two canoeists on the Passaic, its waters high after another winter of heavy snow and bitter cold, found Bird's red jacket entangled in branches on the Morris County side of a stretch of the river near King George Road in neighboring Somerset County's Warren Township, roughly one mile (1.6 km) from Bird's home. They notified authorities, who found the body about off the shoreline,Justin Zaremba
Funeral of David Bird brings closure 14 months after he disappeared, friends say
NJ Advance Media for

(March 26, 2015) under of water, an area that had been searched before several times. The remains were identified through dental records. A subsequent investigation determined that the

cause of death In law, medicine, and statistics, cause of death is an official determination of conditions resulting in a human's death, which may be recorded on a death certificate. A cause of death is determined by a medical examiner. The cause of death is ...

was accidental drowning. His wife believed it was possible that Bird "slipped and fell into the water while hurrying home ahead of an incoming storm."

Personal life

Bird met Nancy Fleming around 1988, and they wed in 1991. The couple had two children, a son born in 1998 and a daughter born in 2001. Bird contracted a rare form of

about nine years before his disappearance and death and received a lifesaving

in 2004, which Bird discussed on his blog and which was reported in local newspapers. Bird was an advocate for

. Bird was described in his ''Wall Street Journal'' obituary as "an avid hiker, lover of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

music, a

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

fan, cyclist, camper, marathoner and a scout-troop leader" who had traveled to more than 35 countries. In the last years of his life he had started running marathons. In 2012 he finished the

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

Marathon, followed by the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor (commercial), sponsor) is an annual Marathon (sport), marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest mar ...

the next year. He also competed in the New York City

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

twice and was a member of Team Liberty at the National Transplant Games. Through his athletic activities he hoped to draw support for organ donation and be an example for other transplant recipients. Running the marathon had particular significance for Bird since he had first learned he would need a transplant to live on the day of the 2004 marathon. He ran the race with a note thanking his donor pinned to him. "I met my goal of hitting the finish line in less time than I was in surgery," he said later.

Alternative theories

Although no signs of foul play were reported in his death, Bird's fate inspired theories that what happened was somehow the result of a conspiracy of some nature that had also claimed other lives in the financial industry during the same period. According to the theory, his disappearance and death were related to a string of suicides and other untimely deaths of present and former

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

employees in late 2013 and early 2014, supposedly after two of them had uncovered evidence of major wrongdoing on the company's part. In his final column for ''

Bloomberg View Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Tele ...

'', several months after Bird was reported missing, William D. Cohan, a former Chase employee himself who had some admitted disputes with the company, looked into the rumors and found that Chase had indeed experienced an unusual number of deaths of employees in their 30s during that period, especially when compared to similarly sized

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

s. But, since several of those deaths were indisputably suicides, he concluded that it was just as likely that those deaths were simply the result of working in an already stressful industry during a stressful period.

Notes

External links

Find David BirdFBI file on David Bird
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, David 1959 births 2010s missing person cases 2014 deaths Accidental deaths in New Jersey American business and financial journalists Deaths by drowning in the United States Formerly missing people Journalists from New Jersey Liver transplant recipients Missing person cases in New Jersey Notre Dame High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey People from Long Hill Township, New Jersey Rider University alumni The Wall Street Journal people Writers from Trenton, New Jersey