Man who flew to space with William Shatner dies in NJ plane crash
A New York City entrepreneur who recently flew to space with “Star Trek” star William Shatner was one of two people killed when a small plane crashed in New Jersey on Thursday afternoon.
Tech CEO Glen de Vries, 49, who traveled to space along with Shatner last month during a flight launched by Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin, was identified by New Jersey State Police as having perished in the crash.
“Such a painful loss today,” Bezos’ girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, wrote in an Instagram tribute to de Vries, posting a picture of the crash victim aboard the Blue Origin capsule.
“We got to know Glen de Vries, an incredible man, and his partner Leah last month. Leah’s love for Glen was visible every time we saw them together,” Sanchez said. “When he took off for space she gripped my hand so tight it hurt. Thinking of that moment today with a broken heart.
“Our deepest sympathies go out to Leah and Glen’s family, we are so saddened by the tragic news. … His tireless energy, empathy and pioneering spirit left their mark on everyone who knew him.”
The other man who died in the crash was New Jersey aviation-company owner and head instructor Thomas Fischer, 54. De Vries began training with Fischer as a pilot in 2016.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was at the controls when the plane went down Thursday.
The aircraft had taken off from Essex County Airport in Caldwell and was on its way to Sussex Airport when it went down, according to the FAA.
The wreckage of the single-engine Cessna 172 was found near a state park in Lake Kemah in Hampton Township about 40 miles northwest of New York City at around 4 p.m., a Federal Aviation Administration rep said in a statement to The Post.
The entrepreneur’s Greenwich Village-based ex-wife Maria de Vries, 50, remembered him as a brilliant and kind man.
“A huge light has gone out in the world,” she told The Post.
“He was larger than life and always seemed like a superhero to me.
“He made extraordinary contributions to medicine and science, but personally he was just so smart and talented and kind and really funny.”
De Vries, in an interview with his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, after his spaceflight, said he had a lifelong interest in space and science.
The businessman-turned-astronaut said seeing the Earth from space convinced him to dedicate his life to promoting spaceflight and environmentalism.
“There’s such a stark contrast between Earth and space, and that line where we all live in between is frighteningly small,” de Vries said at the time.
“If we really want Earth to be beautiful the way that we as humans can live on it and enjoy it, we need to start thinking about preserving the environment urgently.”
A molecular biologist by training, de Vries co-founded the New York-based healthcare-software company Medidata Solutions, reportedly the most used clinical-research platform in the world. Medidata Solutions was acquired by Dassault Systèmes in 2019 for $5.8 billion.
De Vries was remembered as a medical pioneer by his colleagues.
“Our thoughts and support go out to Glen’s family. Our deepest sympathy also goes out to our Medidata team, which Glen co-founded,” a spokesperson for Dassault Systèmes said in a written statement.
Meanwhile, a passionate pilot, Fischer was a second-generation flight instructor who started flying under the instruction of his father at the age of 12.
Fischer prided himself on his work ethic and worked seven days a week to finance his flight training at the beginning of his career, according to his company’s Web site.