Austin tech founder Adam Robinson dies in Florida jet crash
Robinson, his wife, two children, and three others were killed Sunday when a Learjet 60 went down near Cresthaven while en route to the Bahamas.
By Chloe Martin ·
Adam Robinson, a 45-year-old Austin software founder, died Sunday afternoon in a private jet crash in Florida. The accident killed nine people, including his wife Helen Sharp, 40, and their two children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2. Dudley Sharp, the children’s grandfather, confirmed the family’s loss.
The Learjet 60 crashed in a residential area near Cresthaven, Florida. It had departed from Austin with a destination of the Bahamas. A joint statement released Monday identified the other deceased passengers as Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr, and Anita Maria Cetina. The statement noted that Reed and Fehr were friends of the family, while Cetina served as a nanny for the couple’s children. Robinson’s father stated that the couple was from Austin and that Cetina lived in Colorado.
Robinson built his career in technology and finance before becoming an entrepreneur. He attended Rice University, graduating in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and Spanish literature. Early in his career, he worked as a credit default swap trader at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital. He later founded Robly Email Marketing, which he sold to a private equity firm for an eight-figure sum.
He subsequently established Retention.com and RB2B, both based in Austin. Robinson served as CEO of those companies as well as MoltSets, a startup he launched in June. He maintained a public profile on LinkedIn and YouTube, where he discussed business strategy and bootstrapped growth without venture capital. His wife, Sharp, ran a ceramics business and previously founded the public relations firm Be Influential in Austin.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are working to determine the cause of the crash. They are assisted by representatives from Learjet Inc., weather experts, and air traffic control personnel. NTSB officials said at a Monday news conference that locating debris is the primary challenge. Much of the wreckage is expected to be small, and the debris field spans roughly half a mile.
Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, was identified by The New York Times as the copilot. Her mother said Filgueiras did not know who was at the controls when the aircraft went down. The investigation includes an analysis of weather conditions and turbulence. The families asked for privacy as they grieve.
Source: Austin American-Statesman
