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Glen de Vries, 49, the businessman who flew into space with Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin last month, died in a small plane crash on Thursday.
The plane came down in Sussex County, New Jersey, just before 3 pm. Mr de Vries and Thomas Fischer, 54, were killed in the crash. The Federal Aviation Authority is investigating the incident. Mr de Vries was a private pilot in his spare time.
A trained molecular biologist, he co-founded the clinical research platform Medidata Solutions, which has managed more than 25,000 clinical trials involving 7 million patients. The company was acquired by Dassault Systems in 1999 for $5.8bn.
In October, Mr de Vries spent over 10 minutes in space with actor William Shatner, Australian entrepreneur Chris Boshuizen, and Blue Origin executive Audrey Powers.
A statement from Blue Origin reads: “We are devastated to hear of the sudden passing of Glen de Vries. He brought so much life and energy to the entire Blue Origin team and to his fellow crewmates.”
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