On August 1, the world lost one of its most beautiful, kind, and generous souls.  I am heartbroken to announce the death of Kobus Brits, who died in a terrible house fire in Thabazimbi, South Africa.  Though his mother and father escaped, Kobus perished in a fire that devastated the family home and hearts.


Kobus grew up with his two sisters on a farm in South Africa before moving to Pretoria to study, eventually moving on to the University of Johannesburg, from which he graduated as an accountant.  In 2007, he met his partner, and love and work took them abroad, to live in Washington DC and Belgrade, Serbia.  South Africa was always home, though, and last September, the two moved back so that Kobus could be closer to family.


Tragedy struck a few months later.  On July 31, Kobus was trying to keep warm on a cold South African winter night, when a space heater caught fire as he and his parents slept in his childhood home.  His shouts of “fire!” woke his parents, but he died as the flames and toxic smoke reduced the house, and everything in it, to ash.



Kobus's warm heart and generosity are known to hundreds of people all around the world.  While nothing can replace the laughter and happiness that is his true legacy, Kobus’s friends and I are collecting money to help his mother and father rebuild from this shattering loss.  If you knew and loved Kobus, please consider a donation in his memory.