SEATTLE – Former Alaska Airlines Chief Executive Bruce R. Kennedy, who led the company’s expansion as an international carrier before stepping down in 1991 to pursue humanitarian interests, was killed when his single-engine plane crashed into a high school parking lot in central Washington, his wife said Friday.
“We have every reason to believe the plane was Bruce’s Cessna 182,” his wife, Karleen Kennedy of Burien, said in a statement released by the airline.
“While we are deeply saddened by the loss of someone we love and admire so much, we rejoice in the knowledge that Bruce is united with his Lord Jesus and take comfort in the fact that he died doing something he loved.”
The single-engine Cessna 182 crashed while trying to land in Cashmere, near Wenatchee, around 7 p.m. Thursday, and the pilot was dead at the scene, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. The plane hit a parked flatbed truck and a tree before coming to a stop a few feet from a house and catching fire.
Kennedy, 68, served as Alaska Air’s chairman and CEO from 1979 to 1991 and continued to serve on the company’s board of directors until his death. He is credited with expanding Alaska’s routes into southern California and to Mexico and Russia, and with developing Alaska’s Horizon Air subsidiary. Under his leadership, annual revenue rose from $234.5 million in 1982 to $1.1 billion in 1991.
After 32 years with Alaska Airlines, Kennedy left the company to pursue humanitarian efforts. He and Karleen traveled to China to teach English with the Christian group Educational Services International. The couple also volunteered with World Relief and sheltered dozens of refugee families in their home.
Kennedy served on the boards of several Christian organizations, including Crista Ministries of Shoreline and the Idaho-based Mission Aviation Fellowship.
At the time of his death, he served as the chairman of the board for Quest Aircraft Co. of Sandpoint, Idaho, which makes planes for humanitarian routes in remote and conflicted parts of the world.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
