What began as a joyful birthday celebration on Lake Tahoe ended in horror. A sudden windstorm struck. Flipping a family’s boat and sending everyone aboard into the freezing waters. By the time rescuers arrived, eight lives had been lost. Including a top DoorDash executive, his parents, and several close friends.
Josh Pickles, a 37-year-old DoorDash finance leader, took his family out on the lake. He did so to mark his mother’s 71st birthday. But what was meant to be a day of laughter and love turned into a nightmare. Meanwhile, powerful gusts, hitting 35 mph, slammed into their 27-foot powerboat. Waves rose as high as eight feet. The boat couldn’t hold. It capsized. Everyone was thrown overboard.
Birthday Celebration of Josh Pickles on Lake Tahoe Turns Deadly
Pickles, along with his father Terry, 73, and his mother Paula Bozinovich, 71, drowned. So did five others. Including his uncle and several longtime family friends. Only two people survived, pulled from the icy water and hospitalized for hypothermia. A family spokesperson called the loss unbearable. The incident was made worse by the fact that the lake had always been a place of peace and joy for them. “They love the lake. That adds to the tragedy,” he said.
A Bay Area family is among eight people killed in Lake Tahoe over the weekend when their boat capsized during extreme weather conditions, sheriff’s officials confirmed.
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) June 24, 2025
DoorDash executive Josh Pickles, 37, of San Francisco and his parents, 73-year-old Terry Pickles and… pic.twitter.com/JzMsaWCCQE
Pickles was a cornerstone at DoorDash. He spent nearly seven years with the company, where he led global strategic sourcing and procurement. Thus, the company’s CFO, Ravi Inukonda, was heartbroken. He described Pickles as someone who inspired everyone around him. “Josh loved his team,” he said. “The loss is immeasurable.” Pickles leaves behind his wife, Jordan Sugar-Carlsgaard, and their 7-month-old baby girl. Moreover, Jordan, who works at Airbnb, stayed ashore that day to care for their daughter. She never expected that moment would save her life. And take the rest of her family’s.
“No words can express the pain and anguish we feel,” she wrote in a statement, still reeling from the loss. The victims’ names have now been etched into a devastating moment. It has shaken both the tech community and a tight-knit family. What was supposed to be a birthday became a day they will never forget. For all the wrong reasons.
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