The London papers today are reporting on the death of Anjool “Jools” Malde, a 24-year-old stockbroker at Deutsche Bank who committed suicide on Sunday. He was due to celebrate his 25th birthday tonight at a champagne bar in Soho. Handsome and successful, Jools had allegedly purchased “a £300,000 penthouse in Mijas on the Costa del Sol.”
The manner of his death, widely reported, is best summed up by his devastated parents:
“Apparently he donned a Hugo Boss suit with matching designer accessories, treated himself to a glass of champagne at the much frequented, upmarket City restaurant Coq d’Argent, and jumped from an eighth-floor rooftop. Style meant everything to him and that’s how he chose his exit.”
Jools was supposedly asked to leave work early on Friday while his company looked into “an inquiry into an IT matter,” although the bank denies that he was suspended:
The Independent reports a close friend of Malde saying he had heard the stockbroker was about to be suspended by Deutsche Bank. “I know for certain that the bank deleted his Bloomberg account, which was not a good sign,” said the friend. This would have denied him access to the financial markets and made it difficult to communicate with other bankers.
There have not been further details reported as of yet as to what inquires were being pursued. In a 2005 article from the BBC in which he was interviewed about student debt, Jools described how he handled his finance while at university:
Anjool, from Yarm-on-Tees, near Middlesbrough, is proud that he has been independent from his mother, an arts teacher, and his father, a psychologist.
“I wanted to be independent and not be reliant on my parents,” he says.
“If I can survive without a penny from my parents, instead of taking out a student loan and doing vacation work, others should at least be able to leave without an overdraft.”
His evident pride in his self-reliance was likely a defining feature of his personality. The Mail on Sunday reports:
Tipped to become the next big British-Asian entrepreneur, he was co-founder of the AlphaParties firm which organises social events in Mayfair and Kensington for young professionals, students and financial interns.
On his personal website he described his work status-as ‘Living the Dream’.
A friend said Mr Malde would have been ‘mortified’ at the idea of being in any trouble at work and would find setbacks hard to deal with as he was not used to them.
‘He’d always been a high-flyer and nothing had ever got in his way. He was also very concerned with keeping up appearances and how he seemed to other people.
‘He was a good guy who didn’t drink too much, didn’t take drugs but worked damned hard and probably pushed himself too hard. ‘He never slept and lived on Red Bull.’
Driven, intelligent, and likely arrogant, it would seem that Jools put great stock in his fiscal and social successes, which were considerable. How tragic that he was ill-equipped to handle the stumbling blocks attendant to those successes, as far as one can speculate. What’s so gripping about Jools’ story, in addition to the parts we the public write for ourselves, is the fantastical flair of his departure. Only a true showman, someone with an understanding of drama and the impact of a spectacle, would choose to end his life by donning a designer suit before plunging 80 feet to his death, champagne in hand, from the terrace of a chic restaurant. He surely knew that this decision would catapult him from a third-page notation to front-page news, and that the British public would naturally clamor for more information about his life and death, and seek out more pictures of his handsome face in better times.
But how truly troubled he must have been to end his life before a lavishly-planned and anticipated birthday celebration, how frightened and lonely he must have felt. While his friends and family mourn, I am saddened that this young man believed this was the best choice in the face of difficulties. Obviously bright and sophisticated, he surely had many more successes to come. But I do walk away with another thought, and one of which I imagine Jools would approve: Damn, the boy had flair.
ButtercupPunch - "La clique, c’est chic!" 
July 9, 2009 at 5:08 pm
“Driven, intelligent, and likely arrogant”
I think you nailed it, though I would add “materialistic and misguided” to that sentence. It’s really sad to think that someone thought the best solution to possible social and/or economic downfall would be suicide, especially when it’s a person who’s obviously intelligent enough to reach success at such an early age. He had reached such good fortune by himself, what made him think he wouldn’t be able to do it again? Either a case of too much arrogance (bad things shouldn’t happen to me) or a deep depression (I’ll never get over this, etc)…maybe even a combination of both.
July 10, 2009 at 7:57 am
I am having a hard time commenting on this story. I have returned to this thread 5 times, written something and then deleted it.
I have sympathy for his friends and family, but eff him. That is a cowardly/selfish way out, even if he did it dressed in Hugo Boss and sipping champagne.
Turns out that growing up in poverty has helped me develop some great coping mechanisms.
I have $5.12 cents in my account, a car that needs repair, student loans and a fridge that is stocked with condiments, but somehow my black behind keeps soldiering on.
Shit, maybe I should go jump off the roof of a McDonald’s restaurant dressed in JcPenney’s finest, with a mason jar of Franzia in hand.
This is not the life that I had imagined for myself, but I deal with it.
Feel free to flame away, but I have very little sympathy for Jools.
July 10, 2009 at 8:36 am
I am curious if he was in any sort of serious trouble at work – embezzling, insider trading, something that he wouldn’t be able to easily spring back from, something that would have forced him out of finance. If his success is so crucial to his identity, losing that would be tough, and choosing to go out on his own terms makes sense.
Is it cowardly/selfish? I don’t know. It is hard to feel sympathy for someone who seems to have had such a blessed life, but it’s impossible to know what goes on inside someone else’s mind. I have, by all accounts, had a pretty good life and grew up in a comfortable lifestyle. That doesn’t change the fact that my brain chemistry is somewhat screwy and that I have in the past considered hurting myself.
July 10, 2009 at 8:48 am
I feel where you’re coming from, for sure. But it’s important to consider the parts of his story that we are left to infer… Like the fact that his parents are a psychologist and schoolteacher in Yarm-on-Tees, a small town in Northeast England. He wasn’t born into posh British society, or even with a silver spoon in his mouth. From the BBC article:
“In the summer after his first year, he earned £6 an hour in a call centre in Oxford, but last summer secured an internship at a London bank which paid £500 a week.
He admits not everyone is lucky enough to get such work, which has also helped him get a job as an analyst at Deutsche Bank in London.
But he says being careful with his money has not meant that he has been unable to enjoy his student life, joining the university’s student newspaper and union committee.
He also has little sympathy for students who build up large overdrafts, saying they are often the same people who boast about spending £50 on a night out.”
It really sounds like he worked his way up, smartly and cautiously and then at some point (as Cate pointed out above) got in way over his head and felt he was at risk of losing it all.
Without knowing his specific background, one also wonders if any cultural pressures towards achievement came into play (although there is no mention of this in the articles). I think there’s more to the story here than a spoiled party boy takes the “easy” way out.
July 10, 2009 at 9:21 am
I feel sorry for him and his family but I also believe that suicide is a very selfish out regardless of how fancy and spectacular it is performed. And I understand that sometimes it is a brain chemistry/serious depression thing that leads to suicide and I really wish he and others could have gotten help but having been on the family side of a similar situation (twice), I can only speak from those experiences which were sadness, grief, and later anger at the person for not getting help. And some anger at myself for not getting them help thrown in there.
July 10, 2009 at 9:32 am
I really don’t know if it’s fair to say people who commit suicide are selfish. Does it hurt people near and dear to them? Absolutely. But in many cases, the person is sick and not thinking straight – they often think that they are a burden, that life would be better for everyone else if no one had to deal with them. Admittedly that isn’t often true, and everyone would be happier in the long run if the person got help somehow. But it can be hard to see that in the moment.
I don’t know. I’m just very sensitive to the use of the word “selfish” in this context.
July 10, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I understand…and I eventually came to that conclusion as well with time, but it’s almost like it is the anger stage of grief that you go through, blaming them. Now that it has been a year, I am just sad for their pain and sorry that I didn’t see it in time to try to help them, you know?
July 10, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Totally understandable.
July 10, 2009 at 9:46 am
I am quite sure there is more to the story, as there always is.
money, no money, champagne, no champagne – makes no difference to me. dude had self esteem and confidence/coping issues if he could achieve that kind of job success early on but “would find setbacks hard to deal with as he was not used to them.”
I just can’t muster up empathy for suicide.
but, I also believe that if someone really, really wants to off themselves (as in, repeated attempts no matter how much “help” they are given) then who am I to get in their way? if a person is in THAT much pain, I don’t have the right to impose my will on them and force them to stay alive and endure whatever it is that is so painful.
July 10, 2009 at 11:05 am
Sounds like he had some young adult success coupled with the emotional maturity/perspective of a 14 year old.
July 10, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I feel terrible for his parents.
July 10, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I wonder why there aren’t MORE suicides actually. Life is hard and painful. Love is ellusive and the pressure to be (insert impossible measure here)is constant and rarely, if ever, do you feel the bliss of achievement. Loneliness and poverty is everywhere you look. Shit, I’m amazed I’m still standing frankly. Pity? No. The impact on my family is what has prevented me so far.
July 10, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Caring about this dude would feel quite like caring about the doings of Paris Hilton. Just…eh. Sucks for his fam, though, fer sher.