Danielle Alison Keatley

Danielle Alison (née Bertrand) Keatley

December 1, 1981 - February 17, 2026

Danielle Keatley, 44, of Larkspur, California, died on February 17, 2026 while backcountry skiing near Lake Tahoe. She was a beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend.

Danielle was born on December 1, 1981 in Sharon, Connecticut, to Michele Bertand and Adolph Mueller. She was raised in Lakeville, Connecticut where her father taught her to swim and dive at an early age. Danielle's kindness, determination and athleticism were evident early, and before long she was teaching many of her community's youngest children to swim and then race competitively in the town's lake. Danielle's love of swimming and the camaraderie of team sports deepened as she mastered the butterfly. With her prodigious talent, increasing strength, and a fierce will to win, she became a star of New England's regional competitions. In the winter, Danielle and her friend Jamie led the charge as the only girls on Salisbury Youth Hockey's advanced ice hockey team. Building on her love of animals, Danielle added horseback riding to her endeavors and was a proficient trainer to her golden retriever Puckett; she also took up skiing with her beloved extended family in Lake Tahoe.

Athletic pursuit was far from Danielle's sole passion, however. When she was ages 8 through 10, her family lived for half of each year in France. Studious young Danielle took this new experience in stride, quickly developing fluency in French and thriving in the advanced math curriculum at her new school. Traveling frequently - and globally - as she did with her parents, Danielle became intrigued by the many cultures and cuisines that she encountered. She fearlessly tasted everything that was offered, sampling regional delicacies that would inform her palette for years to come. No doubt these early experiences influenced her later love of food and wine.

Danielle attended high school at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where she was a serious but spirited student. Though homesick for most of the fall of her freshman year, she persevered, as was her way, and became integral to the fabric of her Deerfield community. Danielle was deeply committed to her swim and crew teams and excelled in her studies from STEM to studio art. Already fluent in French, she took up German. She led the girls' swim team to win New England Championships and qualified for Junior Nationals in the 100-butterfly. During the summers, when she returned home to Lakeville, she drove her car to swim practice every day - a two hour drive in each direction from Lakeville to Poughkeepsie, NY: just one attestation to her unassuming and unwavering drive to excel.

Busy though she was, she remained always up for adventure, including hikes to the Rock or an early morning dip in the Deerfield River. She was a steady, loyal, funny friend who would throw her head back and squint her eyes when she laughed. Her humility was unmatched; she was an excellent listener. Danielle had a way of making all those around her - including classmates who were living in dorms far away from their families - feel like they were already home.

Danielle attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she was a dedicated member of the Women's Swim Team, specializing in the butterfly, until a shoulder injury led her to explore new passions. She became an active member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, forming lasting friendships and contributing to campus life, while pursuing a double major in Art History and French that reflected both her intellectual curiosity and love of language. Her thesis — an Art History paper written entirely in French — was so unique that the university enlisted multiple professors to evaluate it, as no single faculty member specialized in both disciplines.

Beyond her academics, Danielle embraced college life with enthusiasm and joy, creating cherished memories with close friends through shared frozen yogurt pies, hikes along the Appalachian Trail, painting Beta Bridge, all-night paper writing sessions, study hours at the architecture school, and attending horse races and themed events in high style. She explored all that Charlottesville had to offer, took ski trips to the mountains of Colorado and California, and spent Spring Break vacations in Florida, the Caribbean, and Kiawah Island. Between her sophomore and junior years, she ventured even further, participating in a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) program in Alaska, where she spent a summer immersed in the wilderness — ice climbing, sea kayaking, and trekking — returning with a deepened sense of adventure.

After graduating in 2003, Danielle moved to San Francisco and began her career in corporate communications with WeissComm Group. A few years later, she returned to school to complete a post-baccalaureate program in pre-medical studies, with the intention of becoming a doctor. During her application year, she did some important self-examination and despite being accepted to medical school, ultimately decided that the better fit would be to combine her interest in medicine with her work experience in communications. From that point on, Danielle earnestly pursued a career in biotechnology, supporting corporate strategy and investor relations at Onyx, Ultragenyx and Structure Therapeutics over the course of her 20-year career. Danielle deeply valued her colleagues and mentors and maintained strong relationships with many of these individuals even decades later. She endeavored to make life-changing medicines more accessible to the patients who needed them. To her coworkers she was a dedicated employee, a trusted advisor and an enduring friend.

Dave Keatley was lucky to have met Danielle in 2014 while skiing in Lake Tahoe. They fell quickly in love and they were married within a year. They built a life together over a shared passion for travel, adventure, deep friendships, food and wine. Their family grew as they welcomed Emery (2015) and Will (2017) into the world. Home life centered around the kitchen where the kids donned aprons and joined in the cooking from an early age. Though it was a modest venture, they enjoying partnering together to found Keatley Wines in 2016 and appreciated getting to share bottles with friends and having the opportunity to visit restaurants that featured their wines. Initially, they lived in San Francisco where they explored the city's varied children's museums and playgrounds but decided to move to Marin for sunshine and more open space. They built a strong community of friends through school and sports. They also had countless adventures together with the community of friends they made in Serene Lakes, where they enjoyed skiing at Sugar Bowl in the winter and mountain biking, hiking and swimming in the summer. Along with their friends, they spent summers exploring the Loire Valley and French Alps, rafting on the Salmon River in Idaho, and skiing in Portillo, Chile. Danielle was always looking forward to the next adventure, and she had an ever-growing list of future destinations to visit.

Perhaps above all, Danielle loved being a mother to her two children, Emery (10) and Will (8). She advocated for their participation in the activities and sports that they loved, she was a presence in their classrooms and on their field trips, and she served as a regular volunteer at their sporting events. As a mother, she was the truest version of herself: patient, kind, supportive, funny, creative and always present. Emery and Will have inherited these same qualities. Danielle's joy and sense of adventure continues to live on through them.

Danielle has left an indelible mark on the world. She is mourned by friends, family and colleagues and will always be remembered for her steady presence, enthusiasm for life, and selflessness.

She is survived by her husband, Dave Keatley; her children, Emery and Will; her father, Adolph Mueller; her sister Krista Thomas; her brothers, Marc Thomas and Peter Mueller; her mother-in-law, Virginia Keatley; her father-in-law, David Keatley; her sisters-in-law, Maria Thomas and Tina Diedrick; her brothers-in-law, Arthur Brodeur and Tim Diedrick; and her niece and nephews, Carson Holmes, Declan Diedrick, Zach Thomas, Nick Thomas and Ryan Thomas.

If you are interested in attending a celebration of Danielle's life on April 26th, please RSVP with the family.

In lieu of flowers, Danielle's family asks you to consider a donation to the Danielle Keatley Memorial Fund as a way to honor her memory.

The family also extends deepest gratitude to the Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue team and the Nevada County Sheriff's Office for their heroic efforts and diligent professionalism in the search and recovery of our beloved.