More than a year after longtime Wall Street Journal reporter David Bird went for a walk in the woods near his Long Hill Township, New Jersey, home and never came back, his body was found in the Passaic River about a mile from one of his favorite parks. NJ.com reports that two men canoeing in the river spotted a red jacket in some branches on Wednesday afternoon and immediately called the police. The 55-year-old was identified through dental records, and authorities said the county medical examiner’s investigation into the “cause and manner of death is ongoing.”
Bird, who received a liver transplant a decade ago, went out without his cell phone and the medication he needed to take twice a day. He had two children and covered energy markets for the Journal, where he worked for more than two decades. “David Bird was a long-standing and valued member of the Dow Jones newsroom, and we are deeply saddened to learn today of his death,” said Gerald Baker, editor of the Journal. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”
