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A Park City resident killed in a small plane crash was a longtime health care executive and the owner of a Stanley, Idaho-area guest ranch.
John H. Short, 70, died Friday along with three others — Andrew D. Tyson, 46, Russell "Rusty" T. Cheney, 34, and Aaron "A.J." Linnell, 39, all from Teton County, Idaho — when the plane he was flying crashed, according to a news release from the Custer County, Idaho, sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office identified Short as the owner of the Diamond-D Ranch, a guest ranch in the Frank Church Wilderness area of the Salmon River Mountains.
On Sunday, a man who answered the phone at the Diamond-D, but didn't want to be identified, said Short's death was "a great loss," but added that no one would offer comment until after authorities have more information.
A press statement released by the health care company Anthem, Inc., on Saturday also identified Short as a board member who had served the company with "great commitment" since 2013 and leaves behind a legacy of "incredible business acumen, strategy formulation skills, and passion for business excellence."
Joseph Swedish, Anthem's president and CEO, said Short, who had four decades of experience in the health care industry, was known for his inquisitive mind and creative thinking
"To me, John was an excellent adviser who brought his deep knowledge of operational performance to a variety of issues that have been critical to the transformation of our company," Swedish said in the statement. "He was both a colleague and a friend, and he will be sorely missed."
According to Anthem, Short was also the former CEO of RehabCare Group and had been the executive chairman of the board of directors of Vericare Management Inc., a provider of mental health services to patients in long-term care facilities."
A LinkedIn page for Short says he had earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Utah in 1971.
Custer County authorities say Short's single-engine Cessna T210M took off from the Loon Creek airstrip about 1 p.m. on Friday and soon after deployed its emergency locator transmitter. Wreckage from the plane was found north of the airstrip — about 30 air miles from Challis, Idaho — Friday afternoon by Diamond-D Ranch workers.
Investigators say Short was piloting the plane. His passengers were all engineers from the Victor, Idaho-based Creative Energies, a solar power provider. Short had flown the trio to the ranch earlier in the day to assess a possible solar panel installation project and was returning them to the Victor-area when the crash occurred, authorities say.
Authorities say the plane caught fire after the crash and its fuselage was burned away. All that remained of the aircraft was the tail section and the wings, according to the sheriff's office. Authorities recovered the men's remains Saturday.
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.