The body of a top Russell Investments executive and ex-Federal Reserve economist who fell to his death was just found.

Bloomberg reports that, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, 50-year-old Russell chief economist Mike Dueker was found dead down an embankment off a highway leading to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. (Russell, now based in Seattle, was previously headquartered in Tacoma.)

The Seattle Business Journal and the Associated Press also reported on Dueker's death.

Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer reportedly said yesterday that Dueker's death, in the words of Bloomberg, "appeared to be a suicide." Dueker's wife reported him missing two days ago, and both friends and police were searching for him.

"We were deeply saddened to learn today of the death," Russell spokeswoman Jennifer Tice told the wire service in an e-mailed statement.

Dueker spent five years at Russell after serving as assistant vice president and research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. William Poole, former president of the bank who ran it from 1998 to 2008, praised Dueker as "a valued colleague" known for "his professional skills and good sense." 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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