Gerry Burd, a former accountant who admitted stealing more than $100,000 from the Haskell Foundation, is dead.

A spokesman for the Overland Park police confirmed Monday that Burd’s body was found Aug. 17 in his residence. The Johnson County Coroner’s Office ruled the death a suicide. Burd was 40.

“It’s a sad situation,” said Burd’s ex-wife, Gwyn Burd. “But there’s no one to blame but himself. He hurt so many, many people.”

Burd was sentenced in August 2001 to a year and a day in prison after admitting he had stolen more than $100,000 from the Haskell Foundation and pilfered a deceased aunt’s estate for more than $330,000.

Court records show Burd’s death coincided with his learning he was about to be charged with stealing more than $290,000 from Oxford Animal Health, an Overland Park veterinary clinic owned and operated by his brother, Ross Burd.

The U.S. Probation Office on Aug. 15 had asked the court to revoke Burd’s probation. The petition cited the money missing from the veterinary clinic and noted that contrary to the terms of his probation, Burd was not paying restitution and had opened lines of credit.

Burd in 2001 was ordered to pay $440,528 in restitution to his aunt’s estate and to the Haskell Foundation. Between Jan. 25, 2002 and Nov. 30, 2004, he had paid back $3,575.

His final payment to Haskell coincided with Ross Burd’s discovery that his brother had cut himself 11 paychecks in November 2004 instead of two.

An audit revealed Gerry Burd had altered the clinic’s bookkeeping software, forged his brother’s signature, and used his computer to print counterfeit checks.

Ross Burd also learned his brother hadn’t paid $34,293 in sales tax.

At the Haskell Foundation, Chief Financial Officer Michael O’Leary said he’d noticed in November or December last year that Burd was no longer making restitution payments.

“I’m stunned and saddened,” O’Leary said, upon being told of Burd’s death. “You hate to see anybody’s life turn out like this. I feel sorry for his kids.”

Burd had a daughter, 13, and a son, 9. They live with their mother in Roswell, N.M. Gerry and Gwyn Burd divorced in July 1998.

Burd joined the Haskell Foundation as a bookkeeper in January 1998, later becoming executive director. He resigned Dec. 10, 1999, amid reports of bad checks, unpaid bills and missing money.

The Internal Revenue Service later filed roughly $250,000 in liens against the foundation’s assets for unpaid payroll taxes. Audits showed the once-solvent foundation was $1.5 million in debt.

Today, the foundation’s assets have been liquidated and most of its debt has been written off or forgiven. Negotiations with the IRS are ongoing.

“We’re trying to move forward,” Jerry Tuckwin, chairman of the board of directors, said. “The IRS has been working with us in a very positive manner.”

Though independent of Haskell Indian Nations University, the foundation raised money and administered grants on behalf of the university.

Currently, the foundation is administering a handful of grants. O’Leary is its sole employee.

Tuckwin, a former coach and athletic director at Haskell, said he and others hope to renew the foundation’s fundraising efforts after the IRS liens are settled.

“Right now, we’re just sort of treading water,” he said. “We can’t really raise money as long as the liens are out there. But we hope to be of benefit to the university at some time in the near future.”