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Former Kearny resident and Valley businessman who volunteered as a pilot for a humanitarian organization died Saturday in a plane crash in Mexico.
John Federic Slater, 50 of Gilbert, was piloting a plane for Los Medicos Voladoes (The Flying Doctors) when it crashed in Sinaloa, a state in northwestern Mexico.
Slater owned Tempe-based Infinity Floor Coverings.
The plane took off after 8:30 a.m. from the city of El Fuerte, hit power lines and crashed. Slater died, and three passengers were injured.
Slater, the son of Jean and the late Bert Slater, grew up in Kearny and graduated from Ray High School. His father owned and operated the Napa Auto Parts Store in Kearny for many years. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from Northern Arizona University in 1983 and worked for Hughes Aircraft in Tucson before establishing his business in the Valley.
The Flying Doctors runs medical, dental and optometric clinics in Mexico and Central and South America.
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