Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy Reacts to Sudden Death of Employee Iga Obrycka

On Thursday, the digital media company’s founder and CEO, Dave Portnoy, took to X to announce the sad news that Iga Obrycka, who was the general manager of Barstool Nashville, had passed away. She was 28.

“More sad news in Barstool Family. We suddenly lost Iga Obrycka this week. Iga basically ran our Bar group for us. If you ever went to Barstool Nashville you probably saw her there,” he wrote. “I would have hired her for any position she wanted at our company because she was that smart and driven. Just incredibly sad news and another cruel reminder not to take a minute for granted. RIP Iga.”

Barstool Nashville posted a tribute to Obrycka on its official Instagram account, sharing a series of photos and videos of Obrycka.

“We lost the leader, heart, and soul of Barstool Nashville, Iga Obrycka. Our heart goes out to her family, those that she was born into and those of us she chose to be in her life,” the caption read. “There will never be another like her and she will be with us always.”

“At the right time, we will hold a celebration of life that we hope she’ll look down on and smile, and you are all welcome,” the statement continued, before concluding, “Rest easy Iga. Your memory will live on forever.”

According to an online obituary, per PEOPLE, Obrycka died on January 29, and a cause of death has not been revealed.

Her obituary reportedly stated that Obrycka is originally from Poland and came to the United States in the early 2000s “with an unrelenting passion to restart her life and make her dreams a reality.” According to the obit, she later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and ultimately became “one of the strong pillars of the business community.”

Obrycka’s passing marks the second loss the Barstool Sports family has suffered this month.

Portnoy announced that Barstool employee Jonathan Stanko — who was a production technician at the company and worked in the New York City offices — had died on January 6 at 32 following a battle with cancer.

“Really sad news from the world of Barstool. We lost Jonathan Stanko to cancer yesterday morning,” Portnoy wrote on X. “He was 32 years old and leaves behind a wife. He worked in our NY offices for close to 4 years and was well liked by literally everybody he worked with.  (Very rare at Barstool).”

“It’s the 1st time we’ve had to deal with something this heavy in the 20 years of Barstool,” he added. “A cruel reminder not to take a day for granted because tomorrow isn’t promised to anybody. #stankostrongl.”