Adam Robinson, 44, the founder and chief executive of the software companies Retention.com and RB2B, died when the $2 million Learjet 60 nosedived en route from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, sources close to the family told TMZ. The aircraft left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport before dropping sharply in Florida, leaving a smoking crater on the side of a road after witnesses captured footage of the plane erupting into a massive fireball.
Also killed were his wife, Helen Sharp, a ceramics artist, and the couple’s two young children, as well as their nanny, Anita Maria Apellido Cetina, and two family friends, Charmi Fehr and Rachael Reed.
“Adam and Helen were devoted parents, and Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, were the light of their lives,” the Robinson, Fehr and Cetina families wrote in a joint statement posted to Facebook by relative Anthony Robinson. “Helen and Adam were the love affair that will last forever. Their warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives.