Jeff Kurtzman, a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant who participated in an illness-stricken training session in Honolulu in June, has died of complications from the coronavirus, reported Hawaii News Now.
Jeff Kurtzman, a Los Angeles-based flight attendant who joined the company in 1986, passed away in the night of July 21, 2020, in California, according to Hawaiian Airlines CEO Peter Ingram.
Ingram sent an email to Hawaiian Airlines employees on Wednesday, saying Kurtzman had ‘become well known to his In-Flight colleagues for his passion for discovering new places, people and cultures’ and was admired for his ‘terrific sense of humor and knack for easy conversation.'
“He embodied the values of aloha and malama that we hold dear,” Ingram said in the email.
“Our Flight Attendant union is heartbroken with the loss of our flying partner who is well-respected, loved, and a long-time part of our flying family,” said Joni Kashiwai, AFA-CWA president at Hawaiian Airlines in a statement.
The union also says it’s “rededicating ourselves to fight for safety in the skies and throughout aviation.”