Dartmouth is well-known for producing truly outstanding alumni. To name a few, Dr. Seuss, Mindy Kaling '01 and Timothy Geithner '84 all represent the unique sense of individuality that the College on the Hill strives to instill in its students.
Given the laundry list of successful Dartmouth alumni, it is difficult to imagine that any graduate would go on to pursue any sort of life of crime.
Consequently, simply going on Google and searching "notorious Dartmouth alum" or "bad Dartmouth alumni" proved difficult. The College is quite good at hiding its shameful alumni and highlighting its shining stars. This is understandable, and much better then what Harvard does that is, pointing out the dorm of the Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski, who killed three people with his infamous mail bombing campaign, on its campus tours. It took some heavy digging in the Rauner Special Collections to uncover our most notorious alumni, who have partaken in crimes ranging from homicide to high-profile fraud. This is a list of our most infamous.
Thomas Doxsee '50, murder On a cold March day in 1948, an inebriated Doxsee and five of his fellow Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity brothers and football teammates barged into Mid Mass 207, the residence of Raymond Cirotta '49. The group decided to haze Cirotta, telling him that he was unworthy of wearing his varsity sweater. Doxsee punched Cirotta a number of times before Cirotta hit his head on a radiator and died the next morning. After a very public trial, Doxsee was found guilty of one count of second-degree manslaughter, fined $500 and given a suspended two-year sentence in a state penitentiary.
John Fairbanks '46, embezzlement In 1990, the sudden disappearance of Fairbanks, a 67-year-old respected district judge from a prominent Newport, N.H. family led to the uncovering of one of New Hampshire's worst white-collar crimes in history. Fairbanks created a lucrative legal-financial practice by embezzling over $3.1 million from the trusts and estates of his clients. In addition to swindling, Fairbanks was accused of exchanging reduced sentences for sexual favors. A sweet-talker, Fairbanks used his political and professional clout to sway prosecutors and attorneys, which allowed him to cover up his crimes and delay allegations against him. He was finally found dead in 1994, having committed suicide.
Jeffrey Sudikoff '77, fraud It was this prolific alum (a former owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team) that funded the building of Sudikoff Hall, home of the computer science department. In 1999, Sudikoff faced two charges of federal fraud for insider trading and filing false forms as the CEO of the IDB Communications Group.
He was previously indicted five years earlier for falsifying transactions to inflate his company's stock. He pleaded guilty, receiving a $3-million fine and spending one year in prison. Gary Bremer '84, child pornography Bremer, the valedictorian of his class at Dartmouth, pawned an old computer in 2002. On the computer, police found over 300 downloaded photos of child pornography.Possession of child porn in the U.S. is illegal, of course, and Bremer was sentenced to two years in prison with five years probation. He was also added to the National Sex Offender Registry.Tony Lightfoot '92, civil rights violation Lightfoot pleaded guilty to hate crimes and violation of civil rights for sending a letter to Morris Whitaker '74, then-treasurer of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association.
In the vulgar letter, Lightfoot threatened to rape and lynch Whitaker and his wife. Lightfoot was fined and sentenced to five years of probation in 1996 but soon was found dead in a Seattle skyscraper.Daniel Mason '93, murder While Mason was a fourth-year medical student at Boston University, he shot and killed two men and their dog. Previous to the Boston murder, Mason had been on probation for slashing the same victims' faces with a knife during a traffic altercation. He was convicted of murder and is currently serving a life sentence in prison.
Sara Kassir contributed reporting to this article.
