Early life and education Caspersen was born on October 27, 1941, in
New York City. He was one of two sons of Olaus Westby Caspersen (1896–1971), and Freda Resika (1909–1991) thought to be of Russian or Polish descent. Olaus's widowed mother and siblings had emigrated to the United States earlier, leaving Olaus in Norway to complete his education. Caspersen received a
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from
Brown University in 1963 and a
law degree (LL.B.) from
Harvard Law School in 1966.
Business career In 1972, Caspersen joined the legal department at Beneficial Corporation, a large American consumer finance firm. Four years later, he was named the firm's chief executive officer. Beneficial had been established in 1914 in
Elizabeth, New Jersey, by Clarence Hodson. Caspersen's father, Olaus, joined Beneficial in 1920 and served as Hodson's secretary for several years. In 1929, Hodson and Caspersen reorganized the firm as Beneficial Finance Corporation and transformed it into one of the largest consumer loan providers in the United States. Freda Caspersen was one of the company's directors. In 1977, Beneficial entered the reinsurance business through subsidiaries, but these endeavors led to significant financial losses in the 1980s. Beneficial later downsized its reinsurance holdings and restructured to emphasize its
second mortgage business. According to Charles "Sandy" Hance, former senior vice president and general counsel of Beneficial, Caspersen was a "pioneer in second mortgages, which later evolved into
home equity loans", and that he "saw this trend developing at a very early stage". Caspersen purchased
Harbour Island in
Tampa, Florida, from a Beneficial subsidiary in 1979, and in 1983 began to re-develop the island into an upscale residential and commercial development similar to the
Inner Harbor in
Baltimore, Maryland. Beneficial purchased the 177-acre man-made island, formerly known as Seddon Island. Before it was developed, local newspapers described the Harbour Island as "an industrial wasteland inhabited by wild pigs" and the only structures as rusted railroad tracks and an unused phosphate facility. After seven years of dwindling business, Beneficial converted the development into office space, and renamed it Knights Point in 1995. Caspersen ran Beneficial for 22 years before its 1998 acquisition by
Household International for $8.6 billion. At the time of the acquisition, Beneficial had 25,000 employees and operated 1,650 branch offices throughout the United States.
Political activities Caspersen became an influential donor to state and federal Republican party candidates, including former New Jersey governors
Thomas Kean and
Christine Todd Whitman, and Kean's son
Thomas Kean Jr., a
state senator and
candidate for United States Senator. In 2005, Caspersen sought a seat on the town commission in
Jupiter Island, Florida; his platform focused on conservation, limiting development, and burying utility cables. He served a four-year term and ran unopposed for re-election in 2009. He surprised his fellow commission members and neighbors by suddenly resigning on August 4, 2009, claiming that he anticipated moving from the community. They were married for 42 years. Caspersen met his wife when she was an undergraduate student at
Wellesley College. and a doctoral dissertation on the works of
Willa Cather. For several years, Barbara Caspersen has served on the university's board of trustees and currently serves in an emeritus capacity. The Caspersens had two homes in New Jersey—in Andover and
Bernardsville in areas described as "in New Jersey horse country", a 6,500-square-foot waterfront estate Westerly, Rhode Island, and a residence in Jupiter Island, Florida. Erik M. W. Caspersen, Samuel M. W. Caspersen, and
Andrew W. W. Caspersen. All four of his sons were graduated from Harvard Law School.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Harvard alumnus
Daniel Golden, in a book criticizing the role of privilege and wealth at elite colleges, attributed their admission to the prestigious law school to their father's generosity. Caspersen served as an officer in the
United States Coast Guard. According to
Sports Illustrated, Caspersen, described as "portly and patrician, tall and splendidly erect, with a lot of beef in his jowls" recalled being asked by
Queen Elizabeth II at the awards ceremony about his role in driving his team of
Holsteiners: "I told her it was to lower the carriage's center of gravity, ... She looked at my midriff and said I was well suited for the job."
Death and aftermath Caspersen died on September 7, 2009, in the Shelter Harbor community of Westerly, Rhode Island, from an apparent
gunshot wound to the head. Caspersen was
eulogized by former New Jersey governor and Drew University president Thomas Kean. In the weeks after his death, reports emerged that Caspersen had listed his Westerly, Rhode Island, home for sale for $10.9 million, was facing financial and legal difficulties. Caspersen had begun to step back from various philanthropic efforts and institutional boards at Harvard, Peddie, and the Hodson Trust. Eight days after his death in 2009, a
New York Times article cited an anonymous source, to report that Caspersen was being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and was suspected of owing as much as $100 million in back taxes and fines, and facing possible imprisonment.
The New York Times article reported that Caspersen was caught up in a broader federal investigation into
tax havens and
offshore bank accounts used by wealthy Americans to avoid paying taxes in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It was reported that his name was turned over to federal investigators by Swiss banking giant
UBS earlier in the year, and in connection to
Liechtenstein Global Trust (LGT), a private bank controlled by
Liechtenstein's royal family. In 2015 an attorney for Caspersen's estate stated Caspersen's tax returns for 2005-2008 had been audited, in an investigation that did not conclude until 2013. The attorney, Denis Conlon, said the net result of the four-year audit was a $7,000 refund from the government for overpayment in one year, $14,000 of additional tax due for another year (in which Caspersen had over $2.7 million of income), no refunds or additional taxes dues for the other two years, and no fines or penalties imposed for alleged offshore accounts or other conduct. ==Philanthropy==