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Suicides have ended up becoming the tragic bookends for the bitter struggle to control Utah's Canopy Group.
The Orange County, Calif., Coroner's Office and Huntington Beach Police Department confirmed Monday that Val Noorda Kreidel, daughter of technology entrepreneur and Canopy founder Ray Noorda, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Kreidel's death came less than a week after her attorneys and those for fired Canopy Chief Executive Ralph Yarro and two associates formally announced a settlement of their dueling lawsuits over control of Utah's premier technology venture capital firm. However, details of the deal had leaked earlier in the week.
Through Salt Lake City attorney Anthony Kaye, the Noorda family issued a brief statement confirming Kreidel's death and asking that the privacy of both the Noorda and Kreidel families be respected "at their time of grief."
Funeral services are scheduled for Wednesday at Westminster, Calif., Memorial Park. Kreidel is survived by her husband and five children.
News of the denouement to the Canopy saga stunned analysts.
Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group said the tragedy "makes the likely outcome liquidation of [Canopy's] assets, either as a package or individually, over time.
"Another family member could step in, but I think most will probably not want to actively continue the business and instead choose to liquidate and move on."
Kreidel, 49, was found dead on the floor of her bedroom Thursday morning by her husband, Bob, authorities said.
"The call came in to us at 10:16 a.m., from the husband. He had left for work at 6:30 a.m., later tried calling home but the line was busy. That was unusual, since they have call-forwarding, so he left his business and went home," Huntington Beach police Lt. Craig Junginer said.
Police found a handgun next to the deceased, who appeared to be the victim of a single gunshot to the head. "In the investigating officer's opinion, it was a suicide."
Cullen Ellingburgh, an investigator with the Orange County Coroner's Office, concurred. "That is what we are listing as the cause of death, but the investigation is continuing. Anytime we have a traumatic death we will do a full forensic autopsy," he said.
Shortly after their Dec. 17 ouster, Yarro, former chief financial officer Darcy Mott and former corporate counsel Brent Christensen had sued Kreidel along with longtime Canopy investment adviser Terry Peterson, and William Mustard, an independent senior executive consultant appointed CEO in Yarro's place.
Yarro, Mott and Christensen sought some $100 million for wrongful termination and sought reinstatement. Canopy, Kreidel and her parents, Ray and Lewena Noorda, countersued, accusing Yarro and his associates of siphoning off nearly $25 million to themselves from Canopy coffers.
Both sides alleged the other took advantage of the Noordas' trust and purportedly failing health. Ray Noorda, 80, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and Lawena "Tye" Noorda also was purported to be in frail health.
In the settlement announced last week, Yarro and his associates received an unspecified payoff in return for resigning from all positions with Canopy and its portfolio companies. Yarro also received the 30 percent share Canopy held in the SCO Group, best known for its controversial $5 billion lawsuit against IBM and other companies related to Unix and Linux operating system rights.
Yarro, seen as a behind-the-scenes supporter of SCO's expensive litigation strategy, remains as SCO's chairman and Mott continues as a director.
Kreidel's death came three months after Robert L. Penrose, Canopy's director of information systems and technology, also died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Court records filed in the Canopy suits noted that Penrose, 39, had become distraught after a closed-door Dec. 22 meeting with Mustard.
The Yankee Group's Laura DiDio, a longtime observer of the Noorda family's business dealings, doubted the settlement by itself led to the tragedy, noting that as "the main protagonist in [Canopy's] suit, she would have been privy" to the terms for several days.
"It's certainly shocking and very mystifying. . . . What a tangled mess," DiDio said.
"This means Bill Mustard will really have to be making a lot of executive decisions now, trusting to his own judgment."
A secretary for Mustard said Monday that the Canopy CEO had no comment on Kreidel's passing. A request for comment from Yarro also was unmet, though SCO spokesman Blake Stowell offered condolences.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Noorda family at the news of this very sad event," he said.