A tech entrepreneur couple died in a plane crash on Saturday near the Truckee Tahoe Airport in Northern California, The Sacramento Bee reported Monday.
Liron Petrushka, 57, and his wife Naomi, 58, were killed when he crashed at 6:38 p.m. while attempting to land his single-engine aircraft, according to a post on the Truckee Tahoe Airport’s Facebook page.
The investors and philanthropists leave behind three sons, according to the Bee.
KCRA-TV in Sacramento said the crash happened during a “snowstorm in the Sierra.” It reported that “moderate snow” was falling in the Truckee area at the time and there was visibility of a half-mile.
The Bee described it as “lightly falling snow.”
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“I heard this plane but very close right over the house, and I was like, ‘Gosh, that sounds awfully close,’” Susan Bower told KCRA. “Seconds later, I could hear a big thud. I knew it went down.”
The airplane had set off from Centennial Airport in Denver around 4:20 p.m., according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
The Petrushkas, who are Israeli by birth, lived in Incline Village, Nevada, with their three sons, the Bee reported.
Victims in fatal plane crash near Northern California airport were longtime tech investors https://t.co/BM3gVxKnfi
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) April 1, 2024
Liron Petrushka got his start playing soccer for the Israeli team Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim before moving into the world of tech entrepreneurship.
“The club bows its head for the death of Liron Petrushka and his wife,” the team’s chairman, Einav Hazenvald, told the Times of Israel. “Liron grew up in the club from the age of 10 and passed through all the teams in the club, including the adults’ team. He played with me in the youth team, where we won the national championship, as well as in the adult team.”
KXTV-TV in Sacramento reported that Gil Ben-Artzy, a colleague of the couple and a founding partner of UpWest — an investment firm that seeks to fund and fast-track Israeli founders breaking into the American market — said he worked with Liron for more than 12 years.
“Him and Naomi had multiple initiatives both as an investment and philanthropic, and it’s a complete and utter tragedy,” Ben-Arzty said. “They leave behind three amazing boys, and our heart goes out to them.”
Iddo Tal, a friend and business partner of Liron’s, shared a heartbreaking tribute to the couple on Facebook.
“We woke up today to the sad news of Liron and Naomi Petrushka’s tragic deaths,” he wrote. “Liron was a great guy and super humble despite all his success. I was honored to have him as one of the investors in my startup and learned so much from him.”
“I’ll miss you my friend. RIP,” Tal said. “My heart is with the family and their sons David, Scott, and Jordan.”
The exact cause of their deaths is still under investigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the crash.
Last month, a Canadian family of five died when their plane crashed onto a Nashville, Tennessee, highway.
The family included 43-year-old Victor Dotsenko, his 39-year-old wife, Rimma, and their three children, David, 12, Adam, 10, and Emma, 7.
