After unexpected death of Cal Poly grad, family and friends return to ‘magical place’
Friends and family are descending on San Luis Obispo County this weekend to celebrate the life of a 2015 Cal Poly graduate who died unexpectedly and mysteriously last week.
More than 200 people will join a family with deep, multi-generational links to Cal Poly and SLO County by returning to the area to remember the life of Jordan Daniel Maler.
Maler, 26, was found dead in his Oakland apartment of unknown causes on Nov. 14.
Maler will be buried very close to his grandparents at Los Osos Valley Memorial Park. His mother said the family has always considered SLO County a “magical place.”
Family members believe Maler died in his sleep, possibly from an arrhythmia, or an irregular heart beat.
But his cause of death is still being determined, said his mother Renee Maler, a tech publicist in the Bay Area who owns the company Philosophy PR + Marketing. She graduated from Cal Poly in journalism in the 1980s. Drugs and suicide have been ruled out, his mother said.
“Jordan touched a lot of people’s lives at Cal Poly and in his hometown of San Ramon and in his job at Pinterest,” Renee Maler said. “He was a rising star in the tech industry, and had worked at Facebook. His old boss wanted him to work at Netflix but his loyalty was to his teams at Pinterest and he loved the work he was doing. Jordan lit up the room wherever he went.”
Maler added that “hundreds of people are coming to his celebration of life service this weekend in Los Osos. This is blowing up on social media, and people who knew him are devastated.”
Visitation was set for Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Los Osos Valley Mortuary. A service open to the public was scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Los Osos Memorial Park.
Maler’s grandparents in Los Osos had close ties to SLO County and often would visit his grandmother’s cousin, who lived in Paso Robles.
“My dad was a veteran and always wanted to be buried in Arlington, but my mom insisted they buy plots in Los Osos,” Renee Maler said. “Both of my parents are buried in Los Osos. My dad passed away first in March 2011, my brother died in May 2011 and then my mom died in October 2017. My brother Jerry is buried there as well — now they’ll all be together (Jordan as well).
Death has shaken Cal Poly friends and family
News of Maler’s death has shocked friends and family, they say, which includes a host of graduates from Cal Poly in the 1970s and 1980s, including his parents and uncles, who went on to prominent careers in architecture, financial planning, business and public relations throughout California, Renee Maler said.
His parents both graduated in 1987, and his father, Arnold, is a senior director of global learning at a Bay Area company called Lam Research; his uncle Curt Shupe graduated in 1978 in architecture and owns a design company, Curtis R. Shupe Design in Palm Springs; another uncle, Nelson Maler graduated in child development in 1983 and is now a vice president at Morgan Stanley.
Jordan also had a close friend group from the Class of 2015, mostly consisting of freshman dorm-mates his mother said were nicknamed “The Big Chill,” after the movie. The friends remained in touch well after graduation.
“We were extraordinarily close,” said Celina Boldt, who was among his friends. “We kept in touch every day, about 12 of so of us, and we all moved up to the Bay Area together after leaving Cal Poly and worked in different jobs. We talked every day on social media, every day, shared memes all the time, and could always count on each other. We’re heartbroken about Jordan. We can’t believe it.”
Boldt said Maler lived a healthy lifestyle as a vegan, didn’t engage in risky activities, and wasn’t someone they’d think could ever die at a young age.
He was always a compassionate listener and took on people’s problems as if they were his own, friends and family said.
“Being in SLO has so much meaning, so much power,” Renee Maler said on Facebook. “This truly was our family’s happy place — and I’m going to have to fight hard to prevent that from changing. As hard as it is to be here without J’s physical presence, I can feel him everywhere.”
Maler helped establish Cal Poly program, succeeded in Bay Area tech
Jordan Maler’s presence was strongly felt at Cal Poly, where he helped launch the Mustang Success Center, which supports Cal Poly students with academic advising and services to help them graduate on time.
He also served as vice president of the American Marketing Association’s Cal Poly chapter.
“Jordan stood out among students making the most of his undergraduate experience through academics, club leadership and even working with faculty on research,” said Stern Neill, a Cal Poly marketing professor. “His career success represented the best of our graduates.”
Maler had a successful start to his career in the Bay Area technology industry, having worked at Facebook and Pinterest since earning his degree in business with an emphasis on marketing management, and psychology.
His latest role with Pinterest involved quality control on ad formats, working out bugs and collaborating on data releases. His work often involved late hours, and he was known as a calming voice in stressful situations, his mother said.
For his loved ones, the sense of loss is intense.
“The pain is like a sword on fire going through my heart, in and out,” Maler said. “After this weekend, what will the crash be? That’s when it will be really, really real.”
His mother said she plans to establish a scholarship in her son’s name, possibly for music students and particularly those focused on music festivals.
Her son was an avid attendee of music festivals such as Lightning in a Bottle, Outside Lands and Coachella, and was known for his colorful fashion when he attended events.
Correction: This story has been changed to reflect accurate timelines on Jordan Maler’s grandparents’ deaths and how his former boss wanted Maler to work at Netflix.
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 5:15 AM.
%20Cropped.jpg)