The head of a prestigious New England boarding school, who was among the region’s highest-paid private school leaders, has resigned after being found suffering an apparent overdose at his family’s lakeside home in Maine while authorities were investigating his finances. But this is just half of the story. Boston Globe reported that he vanished into thin air when officials descended on the campus and was found ODing near his family home in Maine through his wife’s tracker.Charles Cahn III, who led Suffield Academy in Connecticut for 22 years, stepped down on November 8, days after details emerged about his disappearance from the school campus and the circumstances in which he was found.
No one knew where the principal was
Law enforcement agents came to Suffield Academy in Connecticut in connection with an IRS investigation. Cahn was not on the campus. For two days, his family members and colleagues did not hear from him. His wife used tracking software to locate his vehicle and it was found at the family’s lake home in Maine. A deputy was sent to Maine. The deputy found Cahn in the middle of an overdose and transported him to a hospital.Agents came to the campus on October 21. On October 22, Cahn was reported missing and the next day, the school announced that Cahn had been placed on immediate leave because of the IRS investigation.Cahn’s lawyer, Duncan Levin, said his client had devoted 34 years to Suffield, including 22 years as head of school. He said Cahn was proud of what he had built with the faculty and staff and wanted the institution to focus on its students. Cahn, in a statement quoted by the school, said he was stepping down to focus on his health.
Yearly income was over $1 million
The reported fall of the beloved headmaster has created a ripple in Connecticut as Suffield Academy is a well-known prep school. And Cahn was one of the highest-paid boarding school heads in England with his yearly income exceeding $1 million per year. Cahn was considered as a great leader as he strengthened the school’s ties abroad, including in China, which involved some questionable transactions.Suffield has said the IRS investigation concerns only Cahn’s finances, not the school’s. The school’s board has said it is cooperating with the investigation, but does not know its full scope. According to the Maine incident report, Cahn left campus after IRS agents “seized all his electronic devices.”There is no public evidence of financial wrongdoing by Cahn and he has not been charged with a crime. A spokesperson for the IRS, Rachael Yong Yow, said the agency does “not confirm nor deny the existence of any open investigations or identify subjects of an investigation.”Cahn joined the school in his 20s as an English teacher and lacrosse coach. Then he served as head of admissions and dean of faculty before becoming headmaster in 2004, at the age of 34. During his tenure, he oversaw a major expansion of the school’s 350-acre campus, including new athletic facilities, a dining hall and academic buildings. Suffield said it invested approximately $120 million in construction and renovations during his leadership. He also helped grow the school’s endowment to more than $100 million, doubling its value in six years.The school, which has approximately 420 students, charges $79,400 in annual tuition for boarding students.