Mystery as billionaire investor Daniel Reiner, 72, is found dead in his private lake in sprawling Washington estate
Investigators are examining the body of a billionaire bio-tech magnate who was found dead in a lake on his sprawling and secluded Washington estate.
Investigators are examining the body of a billionaire bio-tech magnate who was found dead in a lake on his sprawling and secluded Washington estate.
Police were called after Daniel Reiner, 72, disappeared from his home north of Spokane on the evening of August 30, but a search was quickly abandoned as night fell.
Cadaver dogs were drawn to the lake when the search resumed at first light and the 72-year-olds body was found in the 200ft deep waters at 3pm on August 31.
We of course look if there are any signs of obvious trauma or anything along those lines that would be obvious to say there is foul play involved, said Pend Oreille County Sheriff Glenn Blakeslee.
We didnt see any in this case, so then we rely on the medical examiner in the coroners office to give us a manner and cause of death.
Daniel Reiner, 72, made billions from investments in biotech and computer hardware
His body was found floating in the 95 acre private lake on his remote Washington estate
The Pepperdine University graduate made his name as CEO of Optical Devices Inc which was eventually sold to Marquette Electronics for $300 million in 1993.
Five years later he moved into the mansion on his 1,837 acre estate near the Canadian border and bought into the Spokane-based computer hardware company World Wide Packets which was sold to Ciena Corp for $290 million in 2008.
Pend Oreille County Sheriff Glenn Blakeslee
Dan was very involved in the success, growth and exit of World Wide Packets, said Tom Simpson who secured his investment in the company.
I first met Dan in the late 90s when he moved to Spokane and was trying to get acclimated to the local community, he added.
At the time, he had already been a very successful entrepreneur and company builder.
But Reiner was about to make a fortune from Stemcentrx, a San Francisco-based biotech company he founded in 2008 and which developed experimental cancer treatments including the small cell lung cancer drug Rova-T.
He had studied post-graduate courses in genetics and biochemistry at Wayne State University and the University of California, San Diego, and he sold his start-up for $5.8 billion eight years later.
The deal with the Chicago-based AbbVie Inc also saw Reiner granted stock options worth up to $4 billion.
In 2019 he joined the board of Harvest Health and Recreation as the company began capitalizing on the wave of cannabis decriminalization sweeping the country to become one of the biggest suppliers in the US.
He was just a remarkable individual and probably one of the best deal makers I have ever met, Simpson told spokesman.com.
Despite his success, if you saw Dan walking around downtown Spokane, he would have just blended in, Simpson said. He was a very down-to-Earth individual.
He was a mentor to me and a mentor to a lot of people.
Reiners home was one of dozens he owned clustered next to the lake on his 1,837 acres
Everything that goes on the property is pretty much not visible, said Sheriff Blakeslee
Dozens of buildings belonging to Reiner and his wife Rhonda, 70, sit on the shore of the 95-acre Trout Lake where his body was found on August 30.
The estate off Fertile Valley Road is on the edge of the Colville National Forest and is accessed by a private road named Reiner Lane.
He owns a large piece of property there, so everything that goes on the property is pretty much not visible, said Sheriff Blakeslee.
Theres such a distance to any neighbors from the lake itself or from any of the structures that he has there.
He said that deputies spoke to family members when they arrived on the scene after receiving a missing persons report at 8pm on the night of Reiners disappearance.
They have concluded his disappearance was not suspicious but are now awaiting the results of an autopsy by the Pend Oreille County Coroner which was carried out on September 5.
We assume all deaths are suspicious unless evidence shows otherwise, Blakeslee said.
He went swimming and just didnt come back.
