Born in Redondo Beach, California to Sharry and Ed Neubauer, Jonas was the youngest of 3 boys. He grew up sailing in King Harbor with his father, and also loved baseball and played Little League for a number of years. He graduated from Redondo Union High School and went to Virginia Tech for a year before transferring to California State University Long Beach to finish his degree.

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Jonas worked at 1st LA Mortgage in Hermosa Beach for many years after college. In 2012, he became such a friendly fixture at Strand Brewing Company that he eventually was offered a part-time job, and quickly worked his way to being tap room manager. Rich Marcello, co-owner of Strand, was so impressed by Jonas’s work ethic and good nature that he and his wife set him up with Heather Ito. They connected over a shared love of Harry Potter, and soon everyone who saw them together remarked on how perfectly suited they were for each other. The Dr. Mario world champion and the Tetris world champion sound like a match made in video game heaven, but Jonas and Heather had an active social life in the real world too, and loved to visit bars and restaurants in their Highland Park neighborhood. They were married in Hawaii in 2015.

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Truly a Renaissance man, he continued to dominate in Tetris during this time, ultimately becoming the 7 time world champion, and started to stream his playing of Tetris and other games on Twitch. Heather started to help behind the scenes and ultimately became an integral part of the magic of his stream, and over the years they built up an incredible community of viewers from all around the world who tuned in to watch them conquer everything from learning to play the drums to Among Us. They traveled the world because of his Tetris skills, sheer charisma, and thirst for absurd adventure. He was the type of guy that turned an internet error over his birthplace into an event where a whole town fell in love with him. Their trip to Albacete, Spain, was perhaps the only place where he was stopped in line at McDonald’s for an autograph, but in the world of Tetris he was also universally known and beloved.

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When the pandemic first started, Jonas joked that he had been preparing his whole life to stay at home. Despite his joking, he and Heather ultimately provided a very needed space for people to gather virtually and find things to laugh about and celebrate in the midst of otherwise terrible times.

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Jonas appreciated good cocktails, great design and high quality (especially in denim and coffee), and playing games of all sorts -  video, movie trivia games, cards, you name it and Jonas was ready to make it into a fun time and roped in everyone he could to join. His enthusiasm and energy was infectious, and could cause you to start researching Japanese selvedge denim when you had never thought of it before. He was a Ravenclaw through and through, a juggler (literally and figuratively), and a social butterfly. The best fun uncle around, he created games like Jonasball and inspired an enduring love of play in his nephews. Funny and fun-loving, he was the type of person everyone confided in and so consequently the perfect bartender in every situation. He always had a smile on his face, and was ready to laugh at the absurdity of life alongside you. 

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He and Heather had recently made the decision to change their lifestyle and moved to Kaaawa, Hawaii at the start of the new year. He had been excited for new adventures and was ready to take on the unknown, just as he always had been. 

He is survived by his wife, Heather Ito, his mother, Sharry Neubaurer, his brothers Jason and Justin, his 6 nephews, and his extended family.