Social media activist Collin Kartchner dies at age 40

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — Save The Kids founder Collin Kartchner died Tuesday of natural causes, according to his wife Elizabeth.

Kartchner, 40, “peacefully passed away unexpectedly due to natural causes in his beautiful body that we are unclear of yet,” according to her Instagram post.

“If you know Collin, you know about his larger than life heart,” read a GoFundMe statement. “He spent every day of his 40 years on this earth giving to those around him.”

Kartchner’s website describes him as a youth advocate, social media activist, crowdfunder, TEDX speaker and dad. He dedicated his career to fighting the negative effects social media has on children.

In 2017 he started an Instagram account to make fun of social media and the perfectionism it portrays. Once the account gained more attention, he utilized it to spread his message and help others with the #SavetheKids campaign in 2018. That original instagram account now has more than 224,000 followers.

The campaign spoke to so many people that he was asked to speak at schools and universities, companies like Nike and Adidas and TEDxSaltLakeCity.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes posted a statement about Kartchner on Twitter on Tuesday.

“I’m devastated,” Reyes said. “Collin was a great partner and warrior in the fight to protect our children and youth. His energy, enthusiasm and incredible ability to positively impact young minds will be missed tremendously. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family.”

Kartchner also used social media to raise more than $475,000 for hurricane victims in Texas and Puerto Rico. Locally, he raised $30,000 for Utah children fighting cancer; in less than 12 hours he raised enough money to display “You are Loved” and “You are Beautiful” on billboards across the state.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Kartchner’s family.