Man Identified After Falling to Ground with Unopened Parachute: ‘A Remarkable Man’ Who Lived Life ‘to the Fullest’
NEED TO KNOW
- A 60-year-old man was discovered unresponsive and pronounced dead after a fatal skydiving accident on Nov. 16 in Longmont, Colo.
- Takashi Koyama was identified, the Office of the Boulder County Coroner said on Tuesday, Nov. 25
- His son, Shizuka Koyama, paid tribute to his father, remembering him as a “remarkable man”
The 60-year-old skydiver who died in a fatal parachute accident has been identified.
Takashi Koyama was identified as the victim of the Nov. 16 accident, the Office of the Boulder County Coroner said on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
Takashi, who was qualified to make parachute jumps, died after his parachute did not fully open.
“A witness at the landing site across the street had observed the parachuter a few hundred feet above the ground descending quickly, in a spin and it appeared his parachute was not fully open,” according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO).
A witness named Danielle told KCNC that she saw “there was something green on the ground,” explaining that she thought it was a parachute, because “there were parachutes still coming down.”
“And I hopped the fence and ran over,” she continued, “called 911 when I noticed it was a person on the ground and they walked me through CPR until first responders were able to get here.”
Authorities responded to a call of an unresponsive parachuter in a field face down in Longmont, Colo., according to BCSO.
After Takashi’s next of kin, his son Shizuka, was notified of his death, he created a GoFundMe. Shizuka paid tribute to his late father and is raising money to honor his father’s final wish to be cremated and laid to rest in the U.S. and Japan, as “a tribute to the life he lived to the fullest.”
“My father, Takashi Koyama, was a remarkable man who cherished both Japan and America, the lands he called home and loved deeply,” the GoFundMe page read. “After his sudden passing, I am determined to honor his wishes and take care of his affairs, but the journey is overwhelming.”
Takashi, a nursing student, explained that his mother passed away years ago and is “the only one left to handle everything.” He then wrote that the unexpected funeral and memorial costs “bring new challenges and the financial burden has become tremendous.”
PEOPLE reached out to Shizuka for comment.
At the time of Takashi’s death, he was believed to be flying with Mile-Hi Skydiving. Mile-Hi Skydiving confirmed that it had experienced an accident on Nov. 16, KCNC reported.
The Nov. 16 death marked the seventh fatality in seven years linked to the company, KUSA reported. Two people died in 2018, two in 2019, one in 2021, one in 2024 and then the November 2025 fatality.
PEOPLE contacted Mile-Hi Skydiving for comment on Nov. 20.
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