Tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, their two young children and five other people were killed Sunday when a private jet crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida. The Learjet 60 was traveling from Austin, Texas, to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas when it went down near Greenacres shortly before 1 p.m. ET, erupting into flames near a residential neighborhood and busy roadway.
All nine people aboard the aircraft died. In a joint statement obtained by Newsweek, the victims’ families confirmed that Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, their children Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, and three others were among those killed, sharing the news “with broken hearts.” The families remembered Adam and Helen as devoted parents, saying their children “were the light of their lives.” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Tom Chapman said investigators had found signs the aircraft was breaking apart before impact, while weather conditions are also a major focus of the investigation. Investigators said debris could be found some distance from the crash site.
According to air traffic control communications, the pilot reported encountering light clear ice and moderate turbulence while flying at 35,000 feet. The pilot later reported precipitation and requested permission to climb to 37,000 feet. Air traffic control approved the request, but less than 30 seconds later, the aircraft began rapidly descending and the pilot declared an emergency.
The pilot then declared a mayday as the jet began rapidly losing altitude, eventually telling air traffic controllers: “We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute.” The pilot also said: “We're going to crash into the ground.” Investigators are hoping to recover the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder, which could provide additional information about the moments before the crash. The NTSB has said the investigation will take several days. Newsweek has reached out to the agency for further comment.
Robinson, 45, was a technology entrepreneur and the founder/CEO of Retention.com and RB2B, two companies focused on helping businesses identify and connect with website visitors. According to his LinkedIn profile, he founded Retention.com in January 2020 and said he grew the company to $20 million in annual recurring revenue within 3 1/2 years, without outside funding. He also co-founded Robly, an email marketing company, in 2012.
Robinson served as its CEO until February 2020 and later as president. Before entering the technology industry, Robinson worked as a credit trader at Lehman Brothers from 2003 to 2008 and Barclays Capital from 2008 to 2011. In June 2026, he launched another venture, MoltSets, which focused on providing contact data application programming interfaces for artificial intelligence agents.
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