Tony Hsieh, retired Zappos CEO, dies at 46

[BeyondGeography]

Source: AP

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tony Hsieh, the retired CEO of Las Vegas-based online shoe retailer Zappos.com who spent years working to transform the city’s downtown area, has died. He was 46.

Hsieh was with family when he died Friday, according to a statement from DTP Companies, which he founded. Downtown Partnership spokesperson Megan Fazio said Hsieh passed away in Connecticut, KLAS-TV reported. Puoy Premsrirut, a lawyer for Hsieh, told news outlets that Hsieh had been injured in a house fire while visiting Connecticut. Additional details weren’t immediately released. An official cause of death wasn’t announced.

...Hsieh recently retired from Zappos after 20 years leading the company. The online shoe retailer shared a tribute on social media late Friday. “The world has lost a tremendous visionary and an incredible human being,” the statement said. “His spirit will forever be a part of Zappos.”

Hsieh was a Harvard University graduate who joined the company — then called ShoeSite.com — in 1999. Zappos was sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009, but Hsieh had remained with the company until his retirement. For years, he also worked to revitalize downtown Las Vegas, pledging $350 million in 2013 for redevelopment. The same year he moved Zappos’ headquarters into the former Las Vegas City Hall building.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/904fbc743e814485d635000369494fda

[soothsayer]

1. Jeez

[UpInArms]

2. So much promise

cut so short

[dalton99a]

3. Sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million when he was 24 years old

Unbelievable talent. R.I.P.

[BusyBeingBest]

4. Weird. And sad.

[BobTheSubgenius]

5. An incredible life that I'd never heard of before now.

I wonder how that's possible.

[iluvtennis]

6. Rest in Peace Tony Hsieh, you were taken too soon.

[Tiger8]

7. A house fire?

It is a tragedy to die in the prime of life, but especially so with a house fire.

No further details were available, but I’ve always feared this happening to me, and especially living in multi unit dwellings with smokers, space heaters, faulty wiring and people who disable smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Sumner Redstone was another billionaire who almost died in a hotel fire. He described clinging for life, to the outside window frame several stories above....as the flames and heat ate away at his fingers. He suffered severe burns over his body, and lucky he survived.

It’s a reminder to us all....

[BigmanPigman]

8. I have always felt that burning is the worst way to die...so painful.

Poor guy didn't deserve that kind of ending. Horrible.

[Raine]

9. What a sad thing

R-I-P Tony Hsieh

[Sherman A1]

10. Sad

[nsd]

11. He sounds like a good guy.

He was thinking creatively about how to make the workplace fun and equitable, and respectful of human dignity.