Family says New Hope diver died doing what he loved

NEW HOPE, Minn. (KMSP) - Whether he was piloting a plane, or jumping out of one with his friends, family members say Aaron Timmerman lived his life to the extreme.

Now, they can't believe that life is over so soon.

"It doesn't seem real," Timmerman's brother-in-law Sam Ehreth said. "Slowly it's becoming real to everybody. But there's a lot to celebrate with Aaron." 

Ehreth says the 42-year-old was pursuing another passion, scuba diving, with some buddies on Saturday at the Madeira shipwreck site near Split Rock Lighthouse just north of Duluth when something went terribly wrong.

Witnesses saw him surface and call for help before going under.

Two members of his group found him unresponsive on the bottom of the lake and brought him to shore where other divers performed CPR, though it was unsuccessful.

"That was the type of thing that excited him," Ehreth said. "Looking at a ship underwater. That would have been exactly the sort of thing he was after."

Ehreth says Timmerman was just as passionate about his IT systems company, Tech80, as he was about being a husband to his wife, Jessie, and their kids, Conor and Ilee.

And his love of exploring and new experiences served him well everywhere he went.

"He was the type of guy who when you entered a room, you knew when he was there and you knew when he was gone," Ehreth said. "And if you didn't know him, you asked someone who he was." 

Now, his family takes some comfort in knowing he left the world the way he lived in it.

"It's hard. It's obviously hard," Ehreth said. "Its difficult to think he's not going to be around but we're going to enjoy the time he had here." 

Timmerman's funeral will be Friday at Valley Community Presbyterian Church in Golden Valley.

In the meantime, authorities are still investigating Timmerman's death.

An exact cause hasn't been released.

A YouCaring site has been set up to help his family cover funeral expenses.