John Paul Getty III Dies

John Paul Getty III Dies

J. Paul Getty III, grandson of the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty has died at the age 54. According to a statement from his son, Getty was with his family in their home in Buckinghamshire, England when he died on Saturday. He had two children and six grandchildren.

For a man born into such wealth, Getty’s life had been a struggle. At the age of 16 he was kidnapped. When his grandfather initially failed to pay the ransom, believing it to be a hoax, the kidnappers cut off Getty’s right ear and mailed it to his family.

Later in his life, still traumatized by his ordeal, Getty fell into drug abuse which eventually caused a stroke leaving him paralyzed and partially blind.

Getty was one of 14 grandchildren to J. Paul Getty, and one of four children to his father J. Paul Getty II and his mother, actress Gail Harris. Getty was raised by his mother after his parents divorced, in 1964, when he was eight.