Christopher Lloyd Amen-Kroeger, born Christopher Amen, left this world suddenly on Sept. 28 at age 51. He had lived in Berkeley California since 2011. Chris was the first son born to William “Bill” and Elizabeth “Liz” Amen on Sept. 19, 1971, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Chris is survived by his daughter Megan Elise; his son Ashton William; his former wife Laura Kroeger; his mother, Elizabeth; his brothers Keith and Eric; his sister-in-law Shoshana; his nephew Rowan; his aunt and uncle Kathy and Ray Wazny; his cousins Joy Simonton and Kelly LaPar. Chris is predeceased by his father Bill Amen and his nephew Ruben Amen.
After graduating from Beyer High School in Modesto, California, Chris moved to the Bay Area at the beginning of the first dot-com boom in 1996 set on making his way with his natural talent in communication skills and love of computers. His first success was at Spinner.com as Director of Operations, then on to Director of Operations at AOL, VP Applied Engineering at Salesforce, VP Engineering at Grouper Networks, VP Engineering at Sony Entertainment Pictures, CTO at Webot.com, VP Service Engineering at Conviva, SVP Engineering at Brightroll, VP at Yahoo, Head of Ads Engineering at Pinterest and VP of Engineering Ad Products at Twitter.
Chris had a stellar career bringing companies to market and was particularly proud of his shared patent that enabled streaming on the internet from a closet instead of from a football stadium. Chris chased his dreams to be a dot-com pirate and to make a legacy for his children. Chris was best known for his sense of humor and his ability to communicate very complex ideas.
Affectionately called the “king of analogy,” he was happiest when telling a story, gaming with his children, earnestly supporting a friend with a dream or their budding business and maker ideals. After Chris’ brother Eric gifted Chris a small beer brewing kit in 2011, Chris fell in love with the crafting of beer and mead. He loved spending time at the grill and hosting parties for friends. He will be deeply missed by his family, friends and colleagues.
CAK out.
FullStop.
