Randy died July 17, 2019, while on duty as a smokejumper pilot in Fairbanks, Alaska. He grew up in Las Vegas and started taking flying lessons while in high school. Randy was a police officer for the North Las Vegas P.D. for about 10 years before moving to Buhl, Idaho, where he was involved in farming.

Randy loved flying and started doing crop dusting which led to his extensive career in aviation. He flew low-level operations, dropped smokejumpers and was involved in military contracting in Afghanistan and Africa. At the time of his death he was working with Big Horn Airways as a contract pilot for the BLM Smokejumper crew in Alaska. Randy was one of the few pilots who were members of the NSA.