Nation : R. J. Reynolds Grandson Kills Self
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — John Dillard Reynolds, grandson of former tobacco industry executive R. J. Reynolds, leaped to his death from a hotel’s 11th-floor balcony outside Orlando, Fla., on Monday. He was 54.
Spokesmen for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said witnesses saw Reynolds climb the balcony and prepare to jump.
Patrick Reynolds, a half-brother whose book, “The Gilded Leaf,” chronicles three generations of the Reynolds family, described John as a “dear, sweet, good” person who was the victim of a dysfunctional family.
He was the second of four sons born to Richard J. Reynolds Jr. and his first wife, Elizabeth Dillard Reynolds.
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