Friday, December 05, 2008

Sad News

Medical Mutual of Ohio (formerly Blue Cross of Ohio) doesn't get a lot of pixels here: they're not a large carrier, and haven't done much to either tick us off or make us shout "hurrah!" But they are part of our industry, and I just learned that their CEO, Kent Clapp, was killed in a plane crash this past Wednesday (the 3rd).
Kent was only 62 years old when he died. According to the carrier's website, he was a philanthropist who enjoyed giving back to the community: "In 2000, he was awarded the March of Dimes Franklin Delano Roosevelt Humanitarian Award, and in 2002 he was honored at the Northeast Ohio MS Society’s Dinner of Champions."
According to news reports, he was flying in a twin engine plane which crashed as he and his fiance were returning from a vacation. It was a last-minute charter flight (they had apparently missed their regular, commercial flight).
As FoIB Rick Byrnes notes, perhaps the saddest thing was this observation by company spokesman Jared Chaney:
"There is nothing that was that important...Looking back on it, he could have waited for another plane."
Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and co-workers.
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