Dave Goldberg cause of death? I think it’s suicide
First of all, let me say that I feel really bad for everyone who is losing Dave Goldberg in their life. I feel bad that he will not get to see his two kids grow up. His death is very sad. I have not had a spouse die or a parent die and I’m sure the experience is more awful than I could even imagine.
Still. I can’t help but wonder how he died. It is completely standard in journalism to report the cause of death when the announcement is made. After the initial, cursory announcement of death, major publications frequently run an obituary when a famous person dies, yet the Wall St. Journal and the New York Times ran formal obituaries and still mention nothing of the cause of death.
If there were suspicion of murder, there would be a police report.
If there were some sort of complicated condition that Dave kept a secret, the death announcement could follow a time-honored tradition of being vague and uninformative, like saying “heart condition” or “muscular complication” or even “degenerative disease”.
Let’s say he has a terrible disease, like the one in Still Alice, where he will die early and so will his children. And let’s say his children do not know and the family has chosen not to tell them. Fine. The announcement could use that same, vague language.
If the family does not want to talk about the cause of death, it seems that the most logical thing to do would be to announce some sort of vague cause that would stop people from asking questions. But surely the family knows there will be questions if they say nothing. Dave and Sheryl are the most vocal couple on the planet about how to have a dual-career marriage, and one half of that marriage is gone. Of course people will ask questions. The best way to stop the questions is to give a vague, boring cause of death.
So the only explanation I can see for being totally quiet on this topic is that he killed himself.
Why is this important? Why do I get to ask the personally invasive question about his death?
Because Sheryl Sandberg, who was married to him, is not only Facebook’s COO, but she is also the author of the book Lean In. That book tells women that they should have a career like Sheryl’s. And, most significantly for this post, that women should pick a spouse like Dave.
Sheryl has said over and over again that it is because of her spouse that she is able to Lean In (which, loosely translated, means work insanely long hours and have kids and have a great marriage).
I want to know, how can someone Lean In as a single parent? I wonder how someone will Lean In when there is no other parent to comfort a sad child.
If this sounds spiteful and ugly it is. But I think it is also appropriate, and who else would say it besides me?
Most people have something in their life that prevents them from leaning in. I don’t actually even think this is a gender thing. I coach hundreds of men whose earning power plateaus because they won’t relocate or they won’t work weekends, or they want to be home for spring break. It’s not that we are victims of life, it’s that at some point in most of our lives there comes a time when something else is more important than Leaning In.
I don’t have any evidence that it was a suicide. All I have is someone notable died and no one is saying how. And however Sheryl’s husband died is news, since she has been news for three years telling women their husband is instrumental into the process of Leaning In.
But really, I just want to know how Dave died. Because I think he killed himself. And if he did, this might tells us a lot about what happens when both people in marriage Lean In.
Update: A few hours after I published this post news outlets started reporting various other causes of death. Here is my response to those reports: Do we still have to lean in if Dave Goldberg is dead?
Now they are reporting Dave Goldberg fell during a treadmill accident, hit the back of his head and was found in a pool of blood. This is getting more wacky by the moment.
There is a special place in hell waiting for you on the other side.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/05/04/dave-goldberg-died-while-exercising-on-mexico-vacation-source-says/
Assumptions. Not even once.
Penelope, you should be feel like a complete dick right about now. I am sorry but as far as I am concerned your blogging career is dead.
Your rush to grind the axe with Sheryl led you to commit a truly shocking error of judgement.
You should be using your ‘career coaching’ skills right about now, because you will need a new one after this.
Sorry but your post about David’s death was despicable.
Your update to the fact that David Goldberg died tragically in a treadmill accident was -: Oh now that he is dead do we still have to lean in..
My reply to you is no one lives forever. Some people like you believe they do and use their living days to be vultures of lowest form to feed off Accomplished people like David And Sheryl to making a living through your sensational journalism. I hope you will be ok to show your kids what you wrote about a dead person one day. Lastly to all those who were so comfortable making excuses in their life to not do much Lean in shows that balance is the key to everything and where there is a will there is way. So please go back to your sorry lives. I am sure Sheryl will rise through this for when there is no partner to lean in you lean in on your inner strength and character which I am sure she has plenty of.
Dear Ms. Trunk:
Now that news reports are out saying that Mr. Goldberg died after incurring a head injury caused by falling off a treadmill, I hope you will reconsider your approach to this story.
I find your post beyond distasteful. But, unlike your post, I don’t want to use my comment as an opportunity to blindly attack another person.
So instead, I’ll just ask you to reconsider your post, make the appropriate (and heartfelt) apologies, and use this misstep as an opportunity to learn to do things better in the future.
Sincerely,
Brad Phillips
Author, The Media Training Bible
Having been a passive reader of this trainwreck for years, I had hoped for some semblance of normalcy in the writing after P started to focus more on the homeschooling blog but nope nope nope! So let’s ask another question: Who do we really think is the more likely candidate for suicide? Is it the multimillionaire CEO in a high powered marriage that manages to make some semblance of time for kids, OR is it the embattled, emasculated husband that’s been publicly accused multiple times for domestic abuse, while managing a farm with little help from an “entrepreneur” and raising two handicapped illegitimate kids? How would she feel if “farmer” took off into the woods with a shotgun and never returned? Would she turn her highly invasive and introspective analysis onto his suicide? Probably, because that’s what it takes for clicks and revenue, and being a faux-aspie, she wouldn’t even notice the damage being done to her own kids, much less the harm she’s broadcasting with these baseless speculations. Penelope, you are truly disgusting, and I can only hope that with the marital strife you create, DCFS of Wisconsin takes your kids away, and gives them to the Dellifields.
No children are” illegitimate”
It is an ugly term that no child would want to read.
Her first husband, the father of her two children, should get full custody of the boys, and Penelope should only get to visit them with some very structured monitoring.
I’ve watched too many Datelines, 48 Hours, and Paula Zahn On the Cases to think that DG simply collapsed while exercising, hit his head, and died. It’s too rare an accident to believe it entirely. Were there witnesses to his collapse and striking his head? Was there an autopsy? An autopsy could provide more information as to the likely reason for his collapse. Although foul play has not been mentioned, I do not rule it out.
Now that we know what he died of, eat your words little moron of a blogger! I never read you before and will never read you again despicable piece of dung!
Shame on YOU!!! Shame on YOU! If you have even a morsel of regret for your article… that is not enough… Shame on YOU!!!
I think it will come out that foul play is involved.
We live at a time when information rules. It’s instant and there’s never a shortage of facts. This death is shrouded in secrecy. There is a suspicious lack of detail. I fully agree with your comment.
Four Seasons denies he was a guest and accident did not occur there. Keep asking questions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/04/us-surveymonkey-ceo-death-idUSKBN0NP1NB20150504
He was at a gym all by himself? No one else was around when he ‘fell’? I just have a gut feeling, because of who he was and who he was married to. I strongly suspect foul play. His death is assuring that certain secret knowledge stays hidden? Something very fishy about this.
This is so wrong on so many levels. As someone who has enjoyed your articles, I am really disappointed and will no longer visit your website. Who are you to speak about such an horrible tragedy, no matter what the circumstances or people involved? Really shameful.
It’s hard enough to be a human, regardless of which way you lean. This is not a time for guessing why, just let the family grieve in peace.
It takes a lot of stupid to make me go through the sign-in rigamarole to post a comment, but this post cleared the bar. You ma’am are truly stupid and clueless. I pity the children you’re schooling.
It doesn’t take bravery or “balls” as some numbskull said to throw your uninformed opinion around like this Penelope.
What it takes is a complete lack of humanity and compassion.
You should be bloody ashamed if yourself.
What a ridiculous article. Not your place. It isn’t your business. Penelope Trunk trolling this man’s death. Just a big ICKKKKkkkkkk with that.
Whoever wrote this disgusting lie should find a different line of work.
Suicide at a resort seems far-fetched to me. A person at his social and professional level would be very unlikely to commit suicide in a public place. With these people appearances are everything.
I will say with enough money you can cover up anything. I think something is not right with the story though.
I read that he went to exercise at 4pm. His brother went to look for him at 7pm, according to the same article. Ok, I can see his brother being involved with something else and not checking on him until then. But, did no one else at the resort not go to the exercise room for 3hrs? Usually at those resorts you have attendants everywhere. Nope, something is not right with this story.
The person who wrote this…
does not have a soul.
this person is devoid of being human
The person who wrote this…
does not have a soul.
this person is devoid of being human
yes…authur is psy
Sociopaths –
Cant be shamed into being human
It’s vampirism
Thats you author.
Wow…. Don’t you just feel like a smacked ass now that it’s been determined Dave Goldberg cracked his head open & died after falling off a treadmill?
Publicly SPECULATING that someone’s untimely death was due to suicide is a quick way to kill-off your own blogging career.
I’m hoping that Ms. Trunk reflects on the sequence of events, and now facts, to come to terms with her own status as an appalling journalist. If she actually knew Mr. Goldberg she would know that he had much to live for.
Head trauma from an accident while exercising.
You are a disgusting human being for suggesting otherwise when none of the facts were in. I am sorry I ever read this piece of trash and sorrier still to give you a minute more of my time.
This is one of the most vile and tasteless articles I’ve ever read on the internet, and that’s saying a lot. Penelope, you are a truly gross human being. I hope the clicks were worth it.
What a nasty little piece of work you are, so brazenly out to score web traffic to your sleazy little blog.
You’ve obviously never been to Mexico, where medical care is not state of the art and where answers were obviously not going to be quickly forthcoming following such a freak accident. Especially if no one was in the gym with him.
Truly. Shame on you.
There’s a reason you are not a journalist. You jump to conclusions and think that you can write anything you like.
Other than morbid curiosity, what right does anyone have to know when, where, and how he died?
How does the lack of that information affect the life of anyone outside of his immediate family?
This sort of thinking is why totally inconsequential people like the Kardashians have become wealthy and famous. You people have tabloid minds.
Instead of blogging about this or asking questions about this, read some literature or go watch a sunset. Much better and more productive use of your time and energy.
Most disgusting post EVER!
I pity your children that they have to bear with you every single day – a woman with no empathy.
He passed away from head trauma. Tragic enough already for his children and Ms Sandberg.
And Penelope, you have the gall to write this barely veiled venom-laced blog post when the deceased man’s family is just now in grieving? Stating that his cause of death is suicide from unhappiness with his wife and family life without waiting for actual solid facts to surface? This isn’t journalism, it’s same or worse than ludicrous, baseless tabloid fodder, obviously screaming for attention and page clicks. PSA? Atrocious and pathetic. Take a check-list to your own life, Penelope, before you go slandering the names of Dave Goldberg, Ms Sandberg and others. From reading your blog post, it is obvious you have no sense of decency or respect for others, and your reputation is now much like the trash you write, as it should be. You must have been desperate for attention to go so low. Well, you got it.
It’s so clear that the motivation of this post is professional jealousy, and the same goes for the people defending it EVEN AFTER SHE WAS PROVED WRONG.
A good family, good people, struck by a terrible, meaningless, tragic accident and you vile people use it as an opportunity to try to destroy her career while she’s grieving out of nothing more than jealousy, by making things up. You are not good human beings. I don’t know the law but I hope there’s a way she can sue you for this, and I hope she does.
Men lead, women follow. The family dynamic that works. All else is bullshit and a lie.
…..or maybe it’s none of your gddmn business. The only worthwhile point you had to make was made in your first paragraph, where you acknowledge you are unable to feel any sympathy because you don’t have a clue what it’s like to lose a loved one. You should have stopped there, instead of showing the world what a cold-hearted self-serving b you really and truly are.
I hope you are ashamed by your scurrilous, incorrect speculation.
Well, I guess you are wrong: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/technology/dave-goldberg-cause-of-death.html?_r=0. Before you rush to conclusions you should have remembered that to discover a cause of death must take time, specially on a weekend, and well being in Mexico, it is normal that the doctors had to have 100% sure, beformake it public…
So I guess Lean in is not to blame, and you can finally embrace to move forward equality!
I really think the writer of this post owes the Goldberg family, in particular Dave Goldberg’s children, a huge apology.
Was it really prudent for you to speculate publicly that the man may have committed suicide, just because the family wasn’t ready to post the full details of the cause of his death to satisfy ‘your’ need to know how he died?
Incredible show of a lack of insensitivity – and common sense.
I read this many times and reached one conclusion: I am very sorry that someone gets to be coached by you!
I dn’t think what you write is ugly as you put it… I think it’s sad and you must be a very sad and unhappy person with a lot of regrets. And as you don’t regret the things you do only the ones you don’t to at some point you most likely did not lean in… well it was your mistake, not Sheryl’s. Also you clearly didn’t read the book… she doesn’t want anyone to have HER career, but A career, the one YOU choose.
So my only request is: please just apologize to the family for this despicable article if you have any integrity – specially now that the cause of death is known – and do it so you don’t have something else to regret! Lean in and be a PERSON. Take the chance, it is never too late to do it.
Good!! Lean In and be a person!!! And delete this article, number of views are not everything in this world.
You made it into a train newspaper here in Switzerland! http://i.imgur.com/hvNVaJV.jpg
It appears from official accounts that Mr. Goldberg died after falling off a treadmill and hitting his head. Will you now spin a conspiracy theory that further demonstrates your insensitivity, callousness and self promotion? I found your blog yesterday, was disgusted by this post. Came back to make my comment and now, leaving for good. I do not say this lightly: you are an asshole.
It appears from official accounts that Mr. Goldberg died after falling off a treadmill and hitting his head. Will you now spin a conspiracy theory that further demonstrates your insensitivity, callousness and self promotion? I found your blog yesterday, was disgusted by this post. Came back to make my comment and now, leaving for good.
Please take this post down. The news today says he had an accident while exercising in the gym. It’s a horrible tragedy and your speculation about it is incredibly distasteful.
I think I speak for most people on here when I say: Penelope, if you want to commit suicide, you won’t be missed. And tragically, you won’t be important enough to warrant some stupid blogger to write some stupid speculative article about how you may have died. We won’t care how your family and friends feel, just like you didn’t care about the Goldbergs.
And the cause of death is…freak treadmill accident.
Predicting a suicide in this case was extremely irresponsible and the author should feel humiliated.
This article represents everything wrong with the news cycle in the information age. Everyone jumps to conclusions and spins wild theories before any facts are confirmed.
If he did indeed fall off a treadmill, Eduardo, then how did he land on the back of his head and what was sharp enough to bleed him out? Most exercise equipment has very rounded corners.
It sounds like the type of excuse my daughter comes up with when I ask why my German Shepherd is wearing makeup.
I would be pretty ticked off at you if I was the family. That article was ignorant, mean and disgusting!
Oh, Penelope, I think you are amazing, but this is too tender a subject to randomly vomit up. Also, there are accidental suicides – which happen all of the time.
Yes, her thesis does not apply to all women, especially us who struggle, but whoever can continue getting the message out to women to fight for equal rights is worthy of us listening.
Penelope, I have been a reader since 2009 and as a person in the professional world, I disagree with you most of the time. However, you usually make me think of things in a different way. Because of that, I’ve recommended your blog to young professionals with this caveat, I bought your book, I’ve been a faithful reader. But this is incredibly too much. First of all, you didn’t have any facts to base this on, and the reasons I think you wrote it are incredibly ugly: 1. click rates/self promotion (congrats on that call from CNN) 2. kicking a woman who you’re jealous of when she’s down at the first chance you can get 3. wrongly and falsely painting Sheryl Sandberg as a woman who thinks she has a perfect life, with a perfect husband, who brags about her perfect life. This is just not so.
I am so disappointed in you that I have unsubscribed and I won’t mention your name again.
I’d never heard of you before, and now know that you are disgustingly vile.
Holy koolaid drinkers.
Do people, in 2015, really still believe news media (from NYT to CNN) tells the facts? Do people not realize information is censored and manipulated?
Additionally, do you think the family gives a flying F what bloggers speculate or what “condolences” blog commenters offer?