Jewish Google exec killed in Everest avalanche

Dan Fredinburg killed after Nepal earthquake causes snowslide as his team attempted to scale the mountain

By JTA 26 April 2015, 9:00 pm

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A cloud of snow and debris triggered by an earthquake flies towards Everest Base Camp, moments ahead of flattening part of the camp in the Himalayas, April 25, 2015. (photo credit: AFP/Roberto Schmidt)

A Jewish Google executive, Dan Fredinburg, was killed in an avalanche triggered on Mount Everest by the earthquake in Nepal.

Fredinburg, the head of privacy for Google X, the company’s ideas lab, suffered a major head injury in the avalanche and died, his younger sister Megan reported in a post on his Instagram account. He was 33.

The post read: “This is Dans little sister Megan. I regret to inform all who loved him that during the avalanche on Everest early this morning our Dan suffered from a major head injury and didn’t make it. We appreciate all of the love that has been sent our way thus far and know his soul and his spirit will live on in so many of us. All our love and thanks to those who shared this life with our favorite hilarious strong willed man. He was and is everything to us. Thank you.”

Fredinburg had been scaling Everest for the past three weeks with an expedition team arranged by a UK-based tour company. Two other Google employees on the expedition and their guides survived the avalanche.

Fredinburg had worked at Google since 2007. He was cofounder of Google Adventure, which was designed to bring Google Street View to exotic locations, including Mount Everest.