Victims in fatal plane crash near Northern California airport were longtime tech investors
An Israeli soccer-player-turned-venture capitalist and his wife, a fellow tech investor, died Saturday in lightly falling snow after the the couple’s single-engine plane crash near Truckee Tahoe Airport.
Liron Petrushka, 57, was trying to land his single-engine Daher-Socata TBM700N turboprop Saturday evening when, according to airport officials, he crashed after a missed approach. He and Naomi Petrushka, 58, had three sons: David, Scott and Jordan.
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in a Monday news release that it has not identified the bodies of the Petrushkas because “the violent impact of the plane crash and subsequent fire of the plane” which will require “forensic analysis.” The Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the Coroner’s Office there, did not set a timetable for updates but said “names will be released as soon as they are conclusively confirmed.”
Authorities said the National Transportation Safety Board is the lead agency investigating what led to the crash.
NTSB officials said Tuesday they were still searching for the plane’s light data recorder. An LDR is similar to the flight data recorders found on commercial jets — some models save in-cockpit audio, as well as images and instrument data — that can give officials clues about the crash.
A preliminary report on the crash is expected in three to four weeks, the NTSB said.
The NTSB investigated 20 fatal plane crashes in California last year, all involving small aircraft. In one Tehama County wreck, the pilot of an unregistered private plane was attempting an aerobatic rollover in Corning when the left wing ripped off.
On the day that the Petrushkas died, the Federal Aviation Administration reported two other private plane crashes in the U.S. the same day: A twin-engine plane crashed at a Florida airport, and a single-engine plane crashed into Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.
The Truckee Tahoe Airport straddles two California counties — Nevada and Placer — about 10 miles northwest of Incline Village, where the couple lived. He’s been working on and investing in tech enterprises since the 1990s.
Who were the tech investors?
Naomi was the general manager of Petrushka Investments, where Liron was the director. According to Naomi’s LinkedIn, she taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Liron grew up in Israel. An article written by the startup communications advisor Donna Griffit said the couple met when Naomi, an American, was volunteering in the Israeli Army. In Israel, Liron played soccer for Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim, a club team based east of Tel Aviv.
Throughout his investing career, Liron focused on software subscription services, marketplaces and financial tech.
After a disastrous $700,000 investment in Pets.com — one of the many companies that vaporized in the dot-com crash of 2000 — he said he became a much more hands-on investor.
He told Griffit, “I learned that if I wanted to invest I should be more engaged and involved with the founders and understand what’s going on with the business.”
Liron was an early investor in LendingClub, a peer-to-peer lending platform that established itself as a pioneer in unsecured loans. He also told Griffit that he passed on the venture capital round for LinkedIn. “I just don’t get social stuff,” he said. “Happy that others made money, one can’t be greedy.”
Ilana Golan, currently the CEO of the executive career development business Leap Academy, wrote on Facebook, “Liron was an investor in my very first startup and one of the most humble, nice and kind people I met. He didn’t let his incredible success change the way he treats others. It was inspiring to watch. I wanted ‘some day’ to tell him about his impact on me.”
Sharon Savariego wrote that Liron had invested in her company, too: “He was always supportive, giving feedback in the most honest and direct manner. You could always trust Liron to tell you the truth, even if it was harsh — and still to give you a hand to help.” His heart, she said, “was always in Israel.”
The Petrushkas were also heavily involved with UpWest, a Silicon Valley seed fund focused on Israeli founders breaking into the U.S. tech market. In a written statement, the company’s leaders described the couple as “a significant force in the building and success of UpWest from its inception.”
