35-year-old Apple software engineer Daniel Zhengyu Qin passed away on September 17th near the Golden Gate Bridge while fishing when the fishing boat he was on crashed and overturned, leaving behind his wife and three young children. A GoFundMe campaign organized by friends for the family has raised over $83,000 as of September 21st.
Qin worked at Apple and resided in San Jose. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, on the morning of the 17th around 6 a.m., the boat he was on with two others crashed and flipped near Lime Point by the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, causing two people to fall into the water.
The U.S. Coast Guard reported that at 6:08 a.m. on that day, they received a distress call from the vessel, and a rescue boat arrived at the scene approximately 5 minutes later. The two individuals who fell into the water and the one who remained on the boat were all found, with signs of life and wearing life jackets. They were then taken to a hospital in Marin County, where Qin passed away, while the other two individuals sustained serious injuries but survived. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, with the police department’s major accident investigation team involved.
Qin’s friend Cathy Wu on behalf of his wife Yao Deng has initiated the GoFundMe campaign with a fundraising goal of $170,000. The funds will be used for funeral and memorial expenses, the daily expenses of the three children, as well as emergency expenses after the sudden loss of the family’s economic source. The donations will be directly managed by Yao Deng. As of the latest update, the campaign has received over $83,000 in donations.
On the fundraising page, friends fondly recall Qin as kind, humorous, and getting along well with colleagues. He was known to be proactive in helping friends in need, such as passing on unused items to other families and sharing his fishing catches with those around him. He leaves behind three children, an 11-year-old son, and two daughters aged 9 and 3.