BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) mourns the passing of former University of Texas men’s collegiate club water polo player Jason Spindler who was killed in a terrorist attack in Kenya on January 15. In addition to Spindler, the civilian victims included 16 Kenyans, one British national and three individuals of African descent.
He was the co-founder and chief executive of I-DEV International, a California company that matches investors to emerging markets in Latin America, Africa, Asia and South Asia. Spindler had lived in Kenya for the last several years.
Spindler would have turned 41 on Monday, January 21.
The attack occurred as men armed with guns and explosives burst into Nairobi’s DusitD2 compound – an upmarket cluster of shops and hotel facilities in the Kenyan capital – killing at least 21 people in an attack that lasted hours and ended Wednesday morning. Al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist group allied with Al-Quaida, claimed responsibility for the carnage at the hotel.
A native of Houston, Spindler graduated from Hebron Academy, a boarding school in Maine, and received his undergraduate degree in finance in 2000 from the McCombs School of Business at the UT-Austin. He later attended New York University School on Law and graduated in 2009.
He worked as an investment banker for three years, from 2000-2003, at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup, helping global tech/telecom companies raise $50 billion in capital, according to his biography on the I-DEV website and his LinkedIn page. He also led buyouts and acquisitions of manufacturing and operating companies at AlixPartners’ private equity fund for two years, from 2003-2005.
He joined the Peace Corps in 2005, working for one year as a business and economic development volunteer in Peru, where he led the growth of a $7 billion locally owned agriculture business, the company website says.
In 2007, Spindler co-founded I-DEV International. The company works with investors providing seed money to help create viable businesses, industries and supply chains. Its client list includes international food and beverage companies such as Green Mountain Coffee and Nature’s Pride, as well as American women’s clothing brand, Eileen Fisher, and the World Bank, according to the website.
The goal of I-DEV is to empower local communities to join and compete in the global economy. It has worked in 45 countries with more than 300 investors, companies and non-governmental organizations, according to the website.
The terrorist attack was the second of Spindler’s life as he worked at Building 7 at the World Trade Center in 2001, but was running late on September 11. He was walking out of the subway when he saw the first building coming down. University of Texas roommate Kevin Yu told the Washington Post, “He ran straight into the rubble and began pulling people out. That’s exactly the kind of person he is,” Yu said. “When we hear explosions of gunfire, a lot of people immediately jump away. His instinct is quite the opposite — he jumps straight at it.”
“I have no doubt that when he heard the explosions outside the hotel, he was one of those trying to jump in and help,” he said. “It would be unlike him if we heard that he sat on the benches and hid in the bathroom.”
