A day after Thanksgiving, 33-year-old Yang Yang Liu was struck by a car and killed, The Los Angeles Times reports. Friends and family are creating a women-in-media fund in her honor.
Around 11 a.m. on November 26, Liu went for a jog. Authorities believe that a 20-year-old driver of a BMW 328i struck Liu around 11:19 a.m. in the intersection of Allen Avenue and San Pasqual Street, The Los Angeles Times reports. The driver had failed to stop at a stop sign.
Liu’s jog typically took her half an hour to complete. When she didn’t return home at noon, her husband Joseph Wirija texted her. After two hours, he tried calling her repeatedly throughout the day, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Finally, at around 5 p.m. an officer answered Liu’s phone and told Wirja they would deliver the news in person.
Lt. Anthony Russo of the Pasadena Police Department told The Los Angeles Times that Liu died of head trauma at the scene.
The driver was not cited or arrested. Wirja told The Los Angeles Times he is frustrated he has not received more information about the driver.
“We just want not another person to go through what we have to go through,” he said.
Liu received a graduate degree in business from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She spent a few years as an investment banker before pursuing her dream career in the media industry.
Liu worked as a lead strategist at Freeform (ABC). Before she passed, she was working as a Senior Manager of Content Strategy at Amazon Studios.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help Liu’s family cover the cost of funeral expenses. The money will also help create a fund in Liu’s honor at The Wharton School. The fund will help women advance their careers in the media industry.
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