WILMINGTON (AP) — A prominent New York businessman with family ties to Salisbury who drowned in his car off a coastal island north of Wilmington had alcohol and cocaine in his system.
The StarNews of Wilmington reports a state medical examiner released a report Tuesday on the death of Benjamin Williamson Jr., 55. He was found April 22 in a submerged car off Figure Eight Island.
Williamson is the son of former Salisburian Blanche Robertson Bacon and the nephew of Salisbury-native Julian H. Robertson Jr., the well-known Wall Street money manager who established the Blanche and Julian Robertson Sr. Family Foundation in honor of his late parents. The foundation has contributed millions of dollars to the community since its creation in the late 1990s.
The autopsy on Williamson concluded he drowned but listed cocaine and alcohol as contributing factors.
Williamson lived in Manhattan and was attending a family gathering on Figure Eight Island. He was last seen alive about 2 a.m. on April 22, leaving a party at his mother’s house.
Williamson was the managing director and portfolio manager of hedged U.S. equities strategy at Chilton Investment Co.