Editorial: Madoff's tragic aftershocks

Bernard Madoff destroyed the lives of investors in his relentless drive to get rich. Now the suicide of Mark Madoff, one of his sons, has cost him the very thing that motivates most parents to accumulate wealth in the first place.

We can't know what was in the younger Madoff's heart or mind when he hanged himself, his own 2-year-old son asleep in the other room. But for his reviled and imprisoned father, whose swindles dashed the hopes of so many, this excruciating loss must feel like some awful retribution.

For the rest of us it's akin to watching Greek tragedy, complete with terror and, yes, even pity. Whatever triggered the suicide, it's hard to believe that Mark Madoff - a product of Roslyn High School much admired in his time there - would have come to such an end, absent the colossal wrongdoing of his notorious father.

It took talent and daring to sustain a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme for as long as Bernie Madoff did, and a heart of stone to abuse so much trust. Yet ultimately the elder Madoff was doomed by a lack of foresight. Ethical behavior requires looking ahead; only someone blind to the future could fail to foresee the terrible consequences of such depredations - or fail to be deterred by them.

To the list of ruined retirees and ripped-off charities, we can now add the names of the old man's innocent grandchildren, living proof of how badly the sins of the fathers can afflict the kids. hN