TBH, this doesn't reflect well on the VP. It sounds like they were foolish in terminating him (and poor in how they handled it), but an org shouldn't fall apar

TBH, this doesn't reflect well on the VP. It sounds like they were foolish in terminating him (and poor in how they handled it), but an org shouldn't fall apart like that because of a single individual -- particularly a senior one. In this case, yes, he was fired, but he also could have been hit by a proverbial beer truck, tapped to run another part of the business, etc.