Dan Fredinburg, a longtime Googler who headed privacy for Google X and product management for the overall privacy team, died this morning of a head injury after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest.
An experienced climber, Fredinburg co-founded in his spare time Google Adventure, a company team that “translate[d] the Google Street View concept into extreme, exotic locations like the summit of Mount Everest or the Great Barrier Reef off Australia,” as described by Startup Grind.
He, along with fellow Googlers Michele Battelli and Flo Nagl, were scaling the world’s tallest mountain one year after an avalanche there killed 16 sherpas.
His sister Megan confirmed his passing in a post on his Instagram account.
In total, more than 1,100 people were killed by the earthquake, including 18 Mount Everest climbers.
It’s said to be the worst earthquake in Nepal in the past 80 years.
Friends and coworkers took to the Web to share their remembrances of Fredinburg and their sympathies for his family:
