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- Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of Zappos, died at the age of 46 due to accidental smoke inhalation, the office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Connecticut told Insider.
- Hsieh died Friday at the age of 46 more than a week after he sustained injuries in a house fire in New London, Connecticut.
- According to multiple reports, Hsieh, who lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, was visiting family at the time of the November 18 blaze. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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Tony Hsieh, the retired CEO of Zappos credited with revolutionizing the shoe industry, died due to complications from accidental smoke inhalation, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Connecticut told Insider.
Hsieh, who announced his retirement from the shoe retailer in August, died Friday, November 27, more than a week after he sustained injuries in a November 18 fire in New London, Connecticut. He was visiting family at the time of the fire, according to The New York Times.
The Day, a local newspaper, reported on November 18 that firefighters were called to 500 Pequot Ave. just after 3:30 a.m. that morning. The victim in the fire, who is believed to be Hsieh, was rescued from the home and transported to a local hospital with serious injuries to be treated for “possible burns and smoke inhalation,” according to the report.
New London Fire Chief Thomas Curcio told the outlet that emergency personnel removed the victim, and performed CPR on him before they transported him to the hospital. The victim was later taken by helicopter to the Connecticut Burn Center at the Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, about 60 miles west of New London.
Local news outlet WFSB reported the victim in the fire had been trapped in the basement of the home before he was rescued by firefighters.
According to audio posted by Broadcastify and verified by Storyful, emergency personnel on the scene mentioned a male who was "barricaded" inside the home and said that the trapped individual was not answering the door while others in the home had been able to successfully escape the fire, The Wall Street Journal reported.
As Insider previously reported, the property where the fire occurred was purchased in August by Rachael Brown. A woman of the same name has been a longtime employee of Zappos, overseeing the company's training program.
The New London fire chief told Insider over the weekend that the cause of the blaze was still under investigation. He did not immediately return Insider's request for an update Monday.
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- Ex-Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has died at 46. Here's how the iconic entrepreneur went from selling pizzas from his Harvard dorm to leading the shoe company he sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion
