Great-grandson of John D. Rockefeller, Richard Rockefeller, died Friday morning in a plane crash. He was 64.

Richard Rockefeller Dies

Rockefeller, the son of philanthropist David Rockefeller, 99, was killed when the single-engine plane he was flying crashed in Westchester County, N.Y. The former doctor had been flying the Piper PA-46-500TP Meridian aircraft from a White Plains area airport to Portland, Maine. After the plane disappeared from radar, it was found in the hamlet of Purchase, reported CNN.

Rockefeller, who calls Falmouth, Maine home, had been in New York for David Rockefeller’s 99th birthday on Thursday.

"This is a terrible tragedy," the Rockefeller family said in a statement released by spokesperson Fraser P. Seitel. "The family is in shock. Richard was a wonderful and cherished son, brother, husband, father and grandfather. He was an experienced pilot and respected medical doctor. It is just horribly sad."

Up until 2000, Rockefeller both practiced and taught medicine in Maine. He was the founder and president of nonprofit organization the Health Commons Institute and had also long served as a chairman on the U.S. Advisory Board of Doctors Without Borders. Rockefeller was also an advisory trustee for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Rockefeller’s fatal crash is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.

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Article by Chelsea Regan

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