Who is Brian Thompson? The health insurance lifer who kept a deliberately low profile

Brian Thompson was a little-known health insurance lifer before this week. Now, he’s known the world over as the executive who was assassinated in cold blood outside a New York hotel. The 50-year-old lived in Maple Grove, Minnesota. The Wall Street Journal reported he and his estranged wife Paulette had split, and that they were living in separate houses in the affluent suburb. Mr Thompson reportedly purchased the $1 million home, which is less than a mile away from the family home, in 2018. Neighbours said the health executive spent much of his time travelling. Mrs Thompson, a physical therapist, had two children with Mr Thompson. He had been the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit, since April 2021. He was in New York for the company’s annual investor conference when he was killed. He had worked at different divisions of UnitedHealth for 20 years, having first joined the group in 2004. Mrs Thompson said in a statement that “Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives”. She also told reporters that her husband had been the victim of threats in the past, which she speculated might have...

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