Microsoft Says Son of CEO Satya Nadella Has Died

Zain Nadella, son of Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and his wife Anu, died Monday morning, Microsoft said. He was 26 years old and was born with cerebral palsy.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s Son, Zain Nadella Dies At 26

The company, in an email, informed its top personnel that Zain had died. Executives were requested to keep the family in their thoughts and prayers while providing them space to grieve privately, according to the statement.

Jeff Sperring, CEO of Children’s Hospital, wrote in a message to his Board, “Zain will be remembered for his eclectic taste in music, his bright sunny smile and the immense joy he brought to his family and all those who loved him,” which was shared with Microsoft executives.

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Nadella had talked about the birth of his son in a blogpost in 2017.

He Wrote ‘One night, during the thirty-sixth week of her pregnancy, Anu noticed that the baby was not moving as much as she was accustomed to. So we went to the emergency room of a local hospital in Bellevue. We thought it would be just a routine checkup, little more than new parent anxiety. In fact, I distinctly remember feeling annoyed by the wait times we experienced in the emergency room. But upon examination, the doctors were alarmed enough to order an emergency cesarean section. Zain was born at 11:29 p.m. on August 13, 1996, all of three pounds. He did not cry,’ he wrote.  Padma Awards 2022: Padma Bhushan for Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai Top Recognition of India’s Tech Talent

He further wrote, ‘Zain was transported from the hospital in Bellevue across Lake Washington to Seattle Children’s Hospital with its state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Anu began her recovery from the difficult birth. I spent the night with her in the hospital and immediately went to see Zain the next morning. Little did I know then how profoundly our lives would change. Over the course of the next couple of years we learned more about the damage caused by in utero asphyxiation, and how Zain would require a wheelchair and be reliant on us because of severe cerebral palsy. I was devastated. But mostly I was sad for how things turned out for me and Anu.’  Arvind Krishna Named New IBM CEO; From Google’s Sundar Pichai to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, List of Indian-Origin CEOs Leading Global Organisations

The Children’s Hospital, where Zain received much of his treatment, joined with the Nadellas to establish the  Zain Nadella Endowed Chair in Pediatric Neurosciences, as part of Seattle Children’s Center for Integrative Brain Research last year.