Angela Chao attended the AFI Awards Luncheon held at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California on January 12, 2024.
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Foremost Group CEO Angela Chao accidentally drove her Tesla into the road where she and venture capitalist husband Jim Breyer were staying after a party with close friends last month, according to a police report released Wednesday. ) owned a ranch while she was drunk.
Toxicology reports showed that Ms. Zhao died in the Tesla after friends and rescuers were unable to free her from the car. Her blood alcohol level was 0.233.
That’s nearly three times the legal limit for driving on Texas public roads.
Chao, 50, is the sister-in-law of Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is married to her sister, former Cabinet Secretary Elaine Chao.
New reports detail Elaine Chao’s frantic and unsuccessful efforts to get trapped in a Tesla X, and the call a transportation company executive made to a friend as water entered her car.
“In a calm voice, Zhao told (Amber Rondo-Keenan) that she was unable to get out of the vehicle,” the Blanco County Sheriff’s Department report said.
“Zhao told Kenan the water was rising and she was going to die and said ‘I love you’ to Kenan before the vehicle sank underwater.”
Rondo-Keenan entered the pond in a kayak in an attempt to find Zhao, the report said.
Reports stated that in late February 10, after having dinner at the Johnson City ranch with seven “close friends,” some of whom she had attended Harvard Business School with, Chao drove into the pond at the Johnson City ranch.
According to the police report, she was heading back to the ranch’s main house when her Tesla fell into the water after she backed up and climbed over the top of a limestone wall.
Zhao called Rondo Keenan around 11:42 p.m., the report said.
“Zhao told Keenan in a calm voice that she was in the ‘lake’ (pond),” the report said.
Angela Chao became CEO of Foremost Group in 2018. The company was founded in 1964 by her father, James Chao.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for James Chao and his family said: “Angela’s death is a terrible tragedy and words cannot describe the family’s deep sorrow.”
“Her family is extremely grateful to friends and first responders who went to great lengths to rescue her,” the spokesman said.
Angela Chao has served on the boards of the American Shipping Council, the Dean’s Advisory Council of Harvard Business School, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her first husband, investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, died a few months after their marriage in 2009.
Breyer is part owner of the National Basketball Association’s Boston Celtics and previously served on the boards of Facebook, Walmart, Marvel Entertainment, News Corp. and Dell.
McConnell announced in late February that he would step down as Republican Senate leader at the end of the year.
McConnell mentioned Chao’s death in a statement on the Senate floor, revealing his plans to relinquish his leadership position.
“This is an especially difficult time for my family,” McConnell said.
“Just a few weeks ago we tragically lost Elaine’s sister Angela,” he said. “When you lose a loved one, especially at a young age, there’s a certain introspection that comes with the grieving process.”
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