Matthew Mellon dead: Billionaire banking heir and cryptocurrency backer dies, aged 54
Billionaire banking heir Matthew Mellon has died at the age of 54 while in drug rehabilitation in Mexico.
Mr Mellon was the ex-husband of co-founder of luxury show brand Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon, and had struggled with bipolar disorder and drug addiction.
He came from two of America’s great banking families that founded the Bank of New York Mellon and Drexel Burnham Lambert.
“Billionaire Matthew Mellon died suddenly in Cancun, Mexico, where he was attending a drug rehabilitation facility,” a spokesman for Mr Mellon said.
“Mellon made his fortune in cryptocurrency, turning a $2m (£1.4m) investment into $1bn. He is survived by his three children, Force, Olympia and Minty. The family asks that their privacy be respected at this very painful time.”
Mr Mellon’s cousin Peter Stephaich also confirmed his death but did not provide any details.
The tycoon was born in New York City in 1964 and was a descendant of Thomas Alexander Mellon, founder of The Bank of New York Mellon, and Anthony Joseph Drexel, a banker who founded Wall Street firm Drexel Burnham Lambert
He served as the chairman of the finance committee of the Republican Party in New York between 2011 and 2013.
He married the Jimmy Choo co-founder in 1999 at Blenheim Palace, with friends Elizabeth Hurley and actor Hugh Grant among the guests. They divorced several years later.
Testifying at a trial where Mr Mellon was acquitted of hiring a private detective to snoop on Ms Mellon’s finances, the businesswoman said she and her husband had met at a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous when both were recovering from addiction.
Mr Mellon is also survived by his second wife, designer Nicole Hanley, and three children.
Associated Press contributed to this report
