X

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's mother killed in boating mishap

Kalanick's father was injured as well, when the couple's boat struck a rock.

Edward Moyer Senior Editor
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
Credentials
  • Ed was a member of the CNET crew that won a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors for general excellence online. He's also edited pieces that've nabbed prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists and others.
Edward Moyer
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick

Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has lost his mother in a boating accident, and his father has been injured.

Kalanick's parents, Bonnie and Donald, were boating on Pine Flat Lake near Fresno, California, on Friday when their craft struck a rock and sank, according to a preliminary report by the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.

"Deputies later found a man and woman on shore. He had moderate injuries and the woman was deceased," the sheriff's office said in a press release. Kalanick's father was flown by helicopter to a regional medical center.

"Last night Travis and his family suffered an unspeakable tragedy. His mother passed away in a devastating boating accident near Fresno and his father is in serious condition. Our thoughts and prayers are with Travis and his family in this heartbreaking time," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement.

Kalanick reportedly was close to his mother. He posted these photos to Facebook on Mother's Day , earlier this month:


Recode's Kara Swisher, who also writes for Vanity Fair, published an outtake from a profile she did of Kalanick for VF. It gives a glimpse of Kalanick's relationship with his mother and father.