On December 21^st, Erik Gates passed away after a 30-foot fall. Gates was a regular on Discovery Channel’s popular show, Mythbusters, and owner of Gateco Electric.

Gates was walking across the roof of the Xirrus Inc. building in Newbury Park, CA, before falling through a skylight. The autopsy confirmed that Gates died of blunt force chest injury.

Gates appeared on four episodes of Mythbusters between 2003 and 2005. He was a parachute jumper, base jumper, skydiver, and was active in rocketry. He and his brother maintained a website devoted to their rocketry, Gates Brothers Rocketry. He was a cancer survivor whose death was, according to Xirrux Inc. co-founder Steve DeGennaro, “a freak accident that shouldn’t have happened.” Both DeGennaro and Gates worked together on episodes of Mythbusters.

The fatal fall happened at 3:30 in the afternoon, and Gates was alive and talking directly after the accident. He passed away from his injuries at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center. Gates is survived by his wife and three children.

This kind of death makes me scratch my head. After dabbling with such a variety of dangerous and potentially fatal activities, Gates died because of a work-related accident. It just goes to show you that fate has a funny way of making things happen.