A DoorDash executive and members of his family were among the eight victims killed on Lake Tahoe after their boat capsized during a sudden windstorm on Saturday.
Josh Pickles, a 37-year-old executive with DoorDash, his father, 73-year-old Terry Pickles and his mother 71-year-old Paula Bozinovich all died after the boat was overwhelmed by a storm that spurred 8-foot waves and intense wind gusts up to 35 mph.
The party of eight was on the Pickles’ 27-foot powerboat celebrating Bozinovich’s 71st birthday, family spokesperson Sam Singer told ABC7.
“The family has homes in the Bay Area as well as on Lake Tahoe. They love the lake. That adds to the tragedy that has occurred,” Singer said.
Ravi Inukonda, chief financial officer at DoorDash, struggled to fathom what the company would look like without Pickles.
“Josh loved his team and was an inspiration to everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. During his nearly seven years at DoorDash, he brought a contagious spirit that lifted those around him. The loss of Josh is immeasurable,” Inukonda wrote in a statement.
Pickles worked as the company’s global head of strategic sourcing and procurement in the finance department.
He is survived by his wife, Jordan Sugar-Carlsgaard, and their 7-month-old daughter.
“No words can express the pain and anguish we feel knowing their lives were lost,” Sugar-Carlsgaard wrote in a statement to KTXL.
Sugar-Carlsgaard, an executive assistant at Airbnb, didn’t board the boat with the rest of the group and opted to stay on the shore to look after her daughter.
The other victims were Pickles’ uncle, Peter Bayes, 72 and family friends Timothy O’Leary, 71, Theresa Giullari, 66, James Guck, 69, and Stephen Lindsay, 63.
Two other passengers on board survived and were hospitalized with hypothermia and other injuries, officials said.
Pickles and his father shared the “Chris-Craft” boat and had just purchased it last year. The family only used it twice before during the last boating season, according to Singer.
The accident marked the deadliest boating incident in California since a 2019 boat fire that killed all 34 passengers on board.
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