Dave Goldberg death the result of head trauma while exercising
SAN FRANCISCO — Senselessness now mingles with tragedy in the case of Dave Goldberg, the husband of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg who died from accidental blunt force trauma while exercising, according to Mexican officials.
The tech veteran was vacationing in Mexico with his wife and two children, and died Friday at age 47.
Goldberg was found lying beside a treadmill in a gym of a private suite in Punta Mita, an exclusive vacation retreat with hotels and residences just north of Puerto Vallarta.
The prosecutors' office in Nayarit State told USA TODAY that Goldberg appeared to have lost his grip on the equipment's railings, fallen backward and hit his head. The resulting wound was an inch long, and Goldberg lost consciousness.
Hours after the accident, Goldberg was found alive by his brother Robert and was rushed to a hospital 20 minutes away in Nuevo Vallarta, where he died. The office was considering the death an accident.
One of the most glamorous resorts in the area is run by the exclusive Four Seasons chain. The New York Times had reported earlier Monday that Goldberg had died at the Four Seasons Punta Mita, but the resort's general manager, John O'Sullivan, says Goldberg "was not a registered guest at our resort, villas or residences."
A memorial service for invited guests is being planned for Tuesday on the campus of Stanford University, not far from where Goldberg and his family live in Menlo Park.
Goldberg was a beloved Silicon Valley veteran and CEO of SurveyMonkey, which he had grown from a small shop to a venture-backed start-up valued at $2 billion. The impact of his sudden death has already rippled across the business world.
The Walt Disney Co., the board of which includes Sandberg, has moved up its earnings release to 8 a.m. ET in order to allow executives to attend Goldberg's funeral Tuesday. The results had been scheduled for release after the bell Tuesday.
Goldberg's name is still on the schedule of Collision, the tech conference that unfolds this week in Las Vegas. Goldberg was one of the guests on a panel called "All In: What Business Can Learn from Poker," along with poker champion Phil Hellmuth. The panel, hosted by USA TODAY tech reporter Jefferson Graham, now will also focus on remembering Hellmuth's good friend Goldberg.
It remains unknown who will succeed Goldberg at the helm of SurveyMonkey. And Facebook has yet to indicate what Sandberg's immediate plans are either. Neither SurveyMonkey nor Facebook responded to requests for comment.
Goldberg married Sandberg in 2004. She launched an international conversation about the need for women to take the reins of their lives and careers in her best-selling book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. In it, Sandberg dedicated a chapter to how integral Goldberg was to helping her own career soar while feeling confident that family matters were not sacrificed.
Contributing: David Agren in Mexico City.