Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, died on April 30 after battling a stretch of illness that began with influenza B and MRSA, a bacterial infection, and eventually pneumonia. In a statement from Dean's mother, posted to Facebook, he had been "fighting for his life."
One of the first whistleblowers to draw attention to Spirit leadership ignoring aircraft defects — specifically on the 737 MAX — Dean's death comes shortly after the apparent suicide of John “Mitch” Barnett in March, who had been "in the midst of giving depositions alleging Boeing retaliated against him for complaints about quality lapses when he was found dead from a gunshot wound," according to The Seattle Times.
