Theodore Allan Wambolt, a senior claims adjuster with Meridian Assurance Group's New Newmanton regional office, died Saturday after being hunted for sport by billionaire tech entrepeneur Peter Thiel in the wooded interior of the island, approximately four miles west of Gnu. He was 46.

Wambolt joined Meridian in 2004 and spent twenty-one years assessing property damage, liability claims, and — in the final three years of his career — a growing volume of incident reports stemming from events in Founders' Square

Colleagues remembered him as meticulous, even-tempered, and possessed of an unusual ability to assign dollar values to situations that had no clear precedent. "He once closed a claim involving a sinkhole, a jurisdictional dispute, and a lawn chair in under two weeks," said office manager Renata Schiff. "We didn't ask how." Wambolt is survived by his wife, Carol, his two daughters, and an unresolved caseload that his supervisor described as "significant."

A memorial service will be held Thursday at Pastor Reggie Boone's church on Fifth Street. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that outstanding claims be submitted before the end of the fiscal quarter.