UT Grad Killed in Kenya Attack

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/16/us/kenya-american-jason-spindler-killed/index.html

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An American business investment adviser and former Peace Corps member was among those killed in a terror attack on a Kenyan hotel compound, the company he founded said Wednesday.

Jason Spindler, founder and managing director of I-DEV International, died in the attack on the DusitD2 compound, an upmarket cluster of shops and hotel facilities in the capital of Nairobi, his company said.

Armed men burst into the complex with gunfire and explosions Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 14 people in an attack that lasted hours and ended Wednesday morning, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said. 

Spindler's mother, Sarah Spindler, told NBC News on Tuesday night that her son "was trying to make positive change in the third world in emerging markets." 

"We all miss him so much. And it's so sad that such a bright young person is taken away by terrorism," Sarah Spindler told NBC News.

I-DEV says it is a strategy and investment advisory firm that attempts to grow businesses in emerging markets.

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Spindler, a University of Texas business graduate who received a doctoral law degree at New York University, once served in the US Peace Corps in northern Peru, where he "led the growth of a $7 million locally owned agribusiness," a biography on I-DEV's website says.

Figured there was a chance somebody here knew him.  

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He was 40, and was a 9/11 survivor, and joined the Peace Corps after 9/11  

More on him: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6598265/American-businessman-40-survived-9-11-14-killed-Nairobi-Islamist-attack.html

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Spindler was working as an analyst for the Salomon Brothers when 9/11 happened. He escaped with his life from the Building 7, which was completely destroyed. Debris from the North Tower collapse landed on the building and caused fires to spread on the lower floors.

 

Flaws in its internal fire suppression system failed to stop the blaze from spreading and, at 5.21pm - nearly nine hours after the first plane hit the North Tower, it collapsed. 

Only to be killed by Islamic terrorists 18 years later.  Good lord.

[crash_davis 23,170]

 

May he rest in peace.

[South Austin 52,764]

Hook 'em forever, Jason.

[SubliminalHorn 6,845]

Horns up 🤘🏽

[po elvis 2,097]

Has anyone seen crayon?

[Brisketexan 105,691]

He's a friend of a friend, so I saw this yesterday as soon as it was confirmed.  Big fucking loss.  Seriously, he was sharp as a tack and a good guy doing good things.

[RollLeft 5,053]

Damn, RIP, my fellow Horn.

[High Plains Drifter 11,075]

Hook'em!

[williemackgarza 1,826]

RIP fellow horn.
Damn

[Nicole44 22,198]

🤘🏼🤘🏼RIP 🤘🏼🤘🏼

[Firemans4Horn 18,334]

Sounds like a life well lived. Gone too soon. 

🤘🏼

Edited January 17, 2019 by Firemans4Horn

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11 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

He's a friend of a friend, so I saw this yesterday as soon as it was confirmed.  Big fucking loss.  Seriously, he was sharp as a tack and a good guy doing good things.

Joining the Peace Corps after 9/11, working in third-world countries with the locals later on when he could have easily been working safely back in the States for one of the big investment firms in Wall Street speaks volumes about his character.   Sounds like a really good dude.  

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/01/16/american-businessman-among-killed-nairobi-terrorist-attack/

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After Jason Spindler graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000, he moved to New York to work as an investment banker on Wall Street.

Then 9/11 happened.

That morning, as thousands of people fled from the collapsing World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, Spindler did the opposite: He ran straight into the rubble and began pulling people out, his college roommate Kevin Yu told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

“That’s exactly the kind of person he is,” Yu said. “When we hear explosions of gunfire, a lot of people immediately jump away. His instinct is quite the opposite — he jumps straight at it.”

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Yu said Spindler, the oldest of three brothers from Houston, was a “ball of energy” who served in a remote area of Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer and traveled the world in search of adventure and fulfillment. His life changed course after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “Something struck a nerve and changed how he felt and thought about things,” Yu said. “He just felt like he could be doing so much more.”

Spindler left investment banking, pursued a law degree at New York University and later moved abroad to focus on social entrepreneurship.

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Jason Spindler (L), Andres Nieto (C) and Kevin Yu (R), who lived as roommates at University of Texas-Austin, pictured here in 2000. Spindler was killed in a terrorist attack in Nairobi on January 15. 2019. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Yu)

 

[Pato del Muerto 52,959]

Didn’t know him, but it looks like he was a year ahead of me at UT, only a couple buildings away at Welch. 

[Bigbend1812 12,978]

🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽