I want to share this story of greed, ambition, retribution and karma

[CatWoman]

Robert Sumbry apparently never recovered after prison.

The homeless man's head rested on his backpack, his yellow prescription glasses still on his face.

To the railroad detective, who spotted the rag-tag man loitering in the tree-shaded lot by the tracks the day before, it looked like he was taking a nap.

But the man wasn't sleeping. He was dead, covered in ants. Investigators found pennies and denture adhesive in the pockets, insulin and syringes in his backpack and a MARTA card and a Six Flags Over Georgia contract employee ID in his wallet.

Fulton County Medical Examiner's case 07-0989 appeared to be open and shut: Life expectancy is not good for 63-year-old alcoholic diabetics on the street.

But the life and death of the former Atlanta city official, who worked for Mayor Andrew Young in the 1980s and was known by two other future mayors, was anything but simple.

Robert F. Sumbry apparently never recovered from a hard, notorious fall that sent him to federal prison and forever altered his life.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/06/23/0624methomeless.html

[conscious evolution]

1. I knew who he was

I met him in AA.
He was definitely a haunted man.
A shame he died the way he did.

[AlCzervik]

2. wow what a weird ride and a sad ending for him.

[MedleyMisty]

3. He does sound like he wasn't the greatest person

but that doesn't change the fact that what happened to him is really sad and should never happen to anyone.

I don't have the heart for vengeance.

[NYC]

4. I suppose this woman summed it up best:

"I feel bad," said Owens' friend, Delores Young, about how Sumbry had died. "But when you do people wrong in life, bad things happen to you."

[CatWoman]

6. exactly

:hi:

to be quite honest, while reading this, I felt really bad for him too.

I hope his siblings find peace as well.

[rasputin1952]

8. I felt a little sad for him as well...but all things considered, he

brought the sentence upon himself.

A well educated man, (or woman), unused o a powerful position, young and filled w/piss and vinegar...it can be very difficult to control ones ambition, much less greed.

He made a change, but it was not for the better, his change brought more personal disaster. No one should die like he did, alone and forlorn. He could have picked himself up, he certainly had theintelligence, but he tossed himself into a personal hell.

I have to wonder if he felt remorse for all those he abused over the "good" years, that would be telling. It might make some sense out of the situation. I know that if I had treated the poor and elderly, blind and crippled like that, my conscience would have killed me long ago...:(

[CatWoman]

9. yes

very good points about feeling any remorse for the way he treated his tenants.

I guess we will never know......

[rasputin1952]

10. Maybe his sconscience is what kept him from getting back

up?

It would be easy to blame it on prison, but it must go deeper than that. A man of intelligence and learning would make some kind of comeback, I should think. I would noot trust him as a landlord, that's for sure, but he might have done a 180 if he had tired something else.

Yes...I guess we'll never know.

[greenbriar]

11. can only hope Karma works this way for the bushy bots

am sick of how they get away with everything

[NYC]

12. I fully agree with you.

I'm not convinced karma is certain. If it is, it's too slow for me.

[Raven]

5. What a sad, sad story...for his tenants and for him. nt

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

7. I think that karma sums it up.

I must admit, I was expecting an entirely different story than what I read.

He kicked out people who are down & got kicked out in return. Sad all the way around.

[Quantess]

13. Interesting.

Maybe he actually felt bad about how he treated tenants.

[CatWoman]

14. here's a picture of where his body was found

Robert Sumbry's body was found along these tracks. In the mid-1980s, he ran the city's agency that provided housing for the poor. But his career ended when he was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud. Sumbry's downfall began when, as a landlord in his private life, he victimized tenants — including the sick and the elderly.

[Quantess]

15. But even so, it's a sad story for everyone.

Even if he did learn his lesson a little too late.