Dead Apple employee identified as 25-year-old software engineer, report says [u]

Posted:
in General Discussion edited April 2016
An Apple employee found dead at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Wednesday has reportedly been identified as a 25-year-old software engineer.




The unconfirmed report comes from ABC News reporter Matt Keller, who on Thursday posted an update about the tragic story without citing sources. Keller says the Santa Clara Medical Examiner's Office has not released cause of death.

A recently deleted LinkedIn profile shows someone of the same name did indeed work for Apple as a software engineer. Whether that account belonged to the person whose body was found at Apple's headquarters is unknown.

AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment.

The exact nature of Wednesday's events are unknown, but reports claim a dead body was discovered in a conference room at Apple's Infinite Loop headquarters at around 8:30 a.m. Pacific. Apple confirmed the death later that day.

"We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of a young and talented coworker," Apple spokesperson Kristin Hugue said in a statement. "Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends, including the many people he worked with here at Apple. We are working to support them however we can in this difficult time."

Update: The Santa Clara Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the employee's death a suicide, Keller reports.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 70
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Sarah Connor?
    leviclemynx
  • Reply 2 of 70
    levilevi Posts: 344member
    A little jarring given how young they are.  
  • Reply 3 of 70
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    This person's death could have been for any reason... heart attack, other medical conditions, freak accident, but wait... this guy worked at Apple... yeah... AI MUST report this!
    williamlondon
  • Reply 4 of 70
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,334member
    Although the cause of death has not been released, one cannot entirely dismiss the possibility of trouble within Apple having driven this young gentleman over the edge. That remains true even if pressure and stress doesn't cause "most people" to take their lives. Consider a software engineer suicide from Apple's past...

    http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/12/business/marketer-s-dream-engineer-s-nightmare.html

    Although SIRI may have had nothing to do with this recent death at all, SIRI is in many ways is terribly flawed, not too unlike handwriting recognition on the Newton. The pressure within Apple to create the insanely great may very often drive the engineering geniuses behind it to the edge of sanity.
    edited April 2016 cornchipRobJenkdysamoriaclemynx
  • Reply 5 of 70
    levi said:
    A little jarring given how young they are.  
    Indeed. It seems like only yesterday they were being shown around the office with their new temporary badge on and were so quiet as we explained the necessity of the jump nets and the other restraint devices. Now the conference rooms will be fitted with smell detection devices so that incase any one dies in one the alarms will go off... (sigh)
    king editor the grate
  • Reply 6 of 70
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    jdw said:
    Although the cause of death has not been released, one cannot entirely dismiss the possibility of trouble within Apple having driven this young gentleman over the edge. That remains true even if pressure and stress doesn't cause "most people" to take their lives. Consider a software engineer suicide from Apple's past...

    http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/12/business/marketer-s-dream-engineer-s-nightmare.html

    Although SIRI may have had nothing to do with this recent death at all, SIRI is in many ways is terribly flawed, not too unlike handwriting recognition on the Newton. The pressure within Apple to create the insanely great may very often drive the engineering geniuses behind it to the edge of sanity.
    Seriously? That must be just about the dumbest comment I have ever read. Given that the cause of death is judged suicide we cannot rule out anything. Unless we have intimate knowledge of the man's personal circumstances and state of mind. I have no problem with discussing how high pressure work situations may lead some people to suicide on a general level, but to imply all sorts of crap related to a particular suicide when we know absolutely nothing is inflammatory, stupid and irresponsible. And your general Siri related comment? The less said the fucking better. [shakes head]
    anantksundaramlondorpscooter63foadhcrefugeetdknoxJanNLirelanduffenmanredgeminipa
  • Reply 7 of 70
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    This seems like a topic that shouldn't even be open for comments.
    focherpscooter63jonlfoadhcrefugeepotatoleeksoupbuckalecdysamoriadacloo6Sgoldfish
  • Reply 8 of 70
    When I got my engineering degree from a highly regarded technical school (a while back!), the undergraduate suicide rate was the highest in the U.S. Many students suffered from a toxic blend of family pressure, steep competition, and alarmingly low social skills and emotional development - a result of the self-selection that occurs in places like that. While technically capable, they were poorly prepared to deal with the human side of the equation, and came unglued went things went badly. They were some of the loneliest people I ever met.
    cornchipdysamoriaJanNL1983asdasdzoetmb
  • Reply 9 of 70
    CMA102DLCMA102DL Posts: 121member
    worked to death?
  • Reply 10 of 70
    I dealt with a lot of software engineers (code monkeys) in my previous job and many of them were socially and personally troubled.
    edited April 2016 cornchipdysamoria
  • Reply 11 of 70
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,384member
    jdw said:
    Although the cause of death has not been released, one cannot entirely dismiss the possibility of trouble within Apple having driven this young gentleman over the edge. That remains true even if pressure and stress doesn't cause "most people" to take their lives. Consider a software engineer suicide from Apple's past...

    http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/12/business/marketer-s-dream-engineer-s-nightmare.html

    Although SIRI may have had nothing to do with this recent death at all, SIRI is in many ways is terribly flawed, not too unlike handwriting recognition on the Newton. The pressure within Apple to create the insanely great may very often drive the engineering geniuses behind it to the edge of sanity.
    What a moronic post. And you like to a suicide from 1993 in order to try and strengthen your point? Wow. 

    Also, according to many people on this forum Apple employees are "incompetent and lazy", at least, that is the refrain whenever some kind of bug is found, or not everything works perfectly 100% of the time. But when something like this happens, people are quick to go the other way, accusing Apple of pushing their employees too hard, hard enough to kill themselves. 

    Wait for the damn facts before spouting such drivel. Also, people often kill themselves in their workplace because of causes unrelated specifically to their workplace (ie. personal/family issues, chronic depression, etc)


    anantksundarambaconstanghcrefugeefoadnetmage
  • Reply 12 of 70
    Unbelievable
  • Reply 13 of 70
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member
    slurpy said:

    What a moronic post.
    You said it, Slurpy... and not the only instance here, either.  

    Show some respect for the dead, people, instead of reflexively reaching for some lame punchline.
    baconstanghcrefugee
  • Reply 14 of 70
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    I have seen some genuinely disturbing comments here and elsewhere WRT this sad story. People making jokes or trying to link Apple's earnings to this or evening trying to link this to the Chinese factory suicides (which were highly motivated by the payouts factory employees' families would get in the case of a suicide). It is highly offensive and makes light of a tragedy. He was a human being that we literally have zero insight into why he chose to take his own life and people think it is ok to say whatever they want.

    I wish articles like this weren't even open to comments because it leads to the worst of people coming through.
    hcrefugeepotatoleeksouppscooter63JanNL
  • Reply 15 of 70
    slurpy said:
    jdw said:
    Although the cause of death has not been released, one cannot entirely dismiss the possibility of trouble within Apple having driven this young gentleman over the edge. That remains true even if pressure and stress doesn't cause "most people" to take their lives. Consider a software engineer suicide from Apple's past...

    http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/12/business/marketer-s-dream-engineer-s-nightmare.html

    Although SIRI may have had nothing to do with this recent death at all, SIRI is in many ways is terribly flawed, not too unlike handwriting recognition on the Newton. The pressure within Apple to create the insanely great may very often drive the engineering geniuses behind it to the edge of sanity.
    What a moronic post. And you like to a suicide from 1993 in order to try and strengthen your point? Wow. 

    Also, according to many people on this forum Apple employees are "incompetent and lazy", at least, that is the refrain whenever some kind of bug is found, or not everything works perfectly 100% of the time. But when something like this happens, people are quick to go the other way, accusing Apple of pushing their employees too hard, hard enough to kill themselves. 

    Wait for the damn facts before spouting such drivel. Also, people often kill themselves in their workplace because of causes unrelated specifically to their workplace (ie. personal/family issues, chronic depression, etc)


    If indeed suicide, I'd wager it was a culmination of personal issues and some petty workplace issue that triggered a manic episode. If firearm related it could have been a premeditated attempt at a murder / suicide / workplace rampage at the office and he just changed his mind at the last moment. I just can't imagine an engineer bringing a gun to the office every day unless he kept it in his car. In any event, I don't suspect it was job pressure (unless he was terminated) even when Jobs reigned over the engineers like a mad dictator, nobody killed themselves and Apple has become a lot softer since then. 
  • Reply 16 of 70
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    slurpy said:
    What a moronic post. And you like to a suicide from 1993 in order to try and strengthen your point? Wow. 

    Also, according to many people on this forum Apple employees are "incompetent and lazy", at least, that is the refrain whenever some kind of bug is found, or not everything works perfectly 100% of the time. But when something like this happens, people are quick to go the other way, accusing Apple of pushing their employees too hard, hard enough to kill themselves. 

    Wait for the damn facts before spouting such drivel. Also, people often kill themselves in their workplace because of causes unrelated specifically to their workplace (ie. personal/family issues, chronic depression, etc)


    If indeed suicide, I'd wager it was a culmination of personal issues and some petty workplace issue that triggered a manic episode. If firearm related it could have been a premeditated attempt at a murder / suicide / workplace rampage at the office and he just changed his mind at the last moment. I just can't imagine an engineer bringing a gun to the office every day unless he kept it in his car. In any event, I don't suspect it was job pressure (unless he was terminated) even when Jobs reigned over the engineers like a mad dictator, nobody killed themselves and Apple has become a lot softer since then. 
    It's impossible to know and dangerous to say things like this. Very often, suicidal people tend to hide their true emotions and by definition, have issues that aren't easy to diagnose. Additionally, I doubt he was terminated as he wouldn't be allowed into an on campus conference room. You can't even get past reception if you are not badged or escorted.
  • Reply 17 of 70
    sflocal said:
    This person's death could have been for any reason... heart attack, other medical conditions, freak accident, but wait... this guy worked at Apple... yeah... AI MUST report this!
    well it is "APPLE" insider. one would assume news related to the Apple Company.
  • Reply 18 of 70
    Terribly unfortunate for this employee, his family, and his friends.
    anomedysamoriadrewys808
  • Reply 19 of 70
    so it is suicide.

    He obviously premeditated that he wanted to do it at Apple hq...so whatever was his issue(s), it is clear he believed Apple was responsible.
  • Reply 20 of 70
    redefilerredefiler Posts: 323member
    It's a good thing they are almost done with the new HQ, because now 1 Infinite Loop is going to be haunted!   :o
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