Family friends of Mike and Hannah Lynch have said the father and daughter were part of a “united, vibrant, loving family” – with the teenager remembered as a “diamond in a sea of stars” and the tech mogul as a brilliant storyteller.
The pair were among seven people who died after the luxury superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily early on Monday morning.
Mr Lynch was the creator of software giant Autonomy and had been cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud related to its 11 billion dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
His daughter Hannah had recently finished her A-levels and was due to study at Oxford University.
Sasha Murray, chief stewardess of the Bayesian, said: “Those who knew her will know that Hannah was a diamond in a sea of stars. Bright, beautiful and always shining.
“What most people may not have seen was the extraordinarily strong, deep and loving relationship she shared with her parents, whom she adored more than anything.
“While swimming with them she often said, if anything ever happened she would save them.
“I have no doubt that the Irish, Latina fire that burns in her soul kept that spirited determination alive.”
It is understood Ms Murray was rescued after disaster struck the yacht earlier this week.
Susannah Gurdun, a close family friend of the Lynch’s from Suffolk, shared a series of heartfelt stories about Mr Lynch and who he was beyond being one of Britain’s biggest tech moguls.
She said she first met him at a dinner party and was “daunted” at the prospect of sitting next to “some important big tech corporate alpha male”.
“Within a minute of sitting down, however, all my fears evaporated,” she said. “Because of course I discovered that Mike is so much more than the corporate cliche.”
“He was riveting. He was funny, and kind, and endlessly interesting; capable of talking about anything and everything.”
Ms Gurdun told of his “thrilling ability” to explain difficult and complicated concepts in a way people could easily understand.
“In particular, he was wonderful with children,” she said.
“I will never forget hearing him explain to a group of them – including our ten-year-old son – the physics of why the sky went pink at sunset.
“We were on the boat after a beautiful day. He was using a half-peeled orange as a visual aid. They sat like little sparrows, fixed to his every word.”
The close friend said she realised Mr Lynch was a “true genius” on a joint holiday in Spain.
His wife, Angela Bacares, and his daughters were telling Ms Gurdun of his ability to “conjure beautiful stories out of thin air”.
The following evening, Mr Lynch told a story as the dinner plates were cleared about a hero, who was the same age as Ms Gurdun’s son, embarking on adventures in search of treasure.
She called it “magical”.
She added that she was not surprised to learn that Hannah had begun showing “serious literary promise”.
“It is beyond tragic that we will never know where her own particular brilliance might have led… but I still feel blessed to have shared that time with them in Spain,” she said.
“Not just because I witnessed Mike’s incredible storytelling; but because I was given a chance of understanding what that moment said about all four of them as a united vibrant loving family.
“To those of us who knew him in that way, this family achievement – in partnership with Angela – was every bit as special and beautiful as the ones he pulled off in the world of tech and science.
“Perhaps even more so – in that he did it all simultaneously.
“He was an extraordinary human being and it was – truly – a privilege to have known him.”
