CEO of Ohio health insurer dies in plane crash

CLEVELAND (AP) — The chief executive of the Medical Mutual of Ohio health insurance company died in a small-plane crash in Puerto Rico, a company spokesman said.

Kent W. Clapp was 62. Also killed in Wednesday’s crash were his fianc e, Tracy Turner, and the pilot of the plane they chartered. The twin-engine Rockwell International 690B plane crashed in dense fog into a mountain in the El Yunque rain forest about 13 miles east of San Juan.

Medical Mutual learned of the deaths late Thursday, company spokesman Ed Byers said.

“It’s really difficult to put into words the loss that we’re feeling right now,” he said Friday. “Our entire Medical Mutual family is in a state of mourning.”

Clapp and Turner were vacationing and had missed a Continental Airlines flight from the British Virgin Islands to San Juan, Byers said.

The couple, from Avon Lake in suburban Cleveland, chartered the small plane in an effort to make a connecting flight from San Juan to Newark, N.J., and from there they were to fly back to Cleveland.

Puerto Rican officials identified the pilot as Ken Webster, owner of Websta’s Aviation Services Inc. in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

The bodies of Clapp and Turner had not yet been positively identified as of Friday morning, but the owner of the plane said the couple were the only passengers on board, Byers said.

The investigation into the crash was being led by Todd Gunther of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, who was studying the charred wreckage, the agency said.

Gunther said an initial examination of the wreckage turned up no evidence of engine malfunction. He said he will analyze the wreckage further and review control tower recordings before presenting a preliminary report in about a week.

A full report will be released in about nine months.

Gunther said he recovered some of the airplane’s maintenance records at the crash site and expects to interview several witnesses before leaving the island Sunday. He said he also will review the pilot’s professional background and his physiological condition at the time of the crash.

Cleveland-based Medical Mutual is formerly part of the Blue Cross system and has about 2,800 employees.

Clapp, a Vietnam veteran, had been with the company since 1976 and was named president in 1992 and chairman and chief executive officer in 1997.

He led the company out of a difficult time and made it a success, winning admiration outside Medical Mutual as well as inside, Byers said.

“The employees who worked for Kent didn’t just like him, they adored him,” Byers said.

2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.