Tyler Perry Studios president Steve Mensch dead in Florida plane crash

Steve Mensch, the president and general manager of operations for Tyler Perry Studios, died Friday night after the single-engine plane he was piloting crashed on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The death of the 62-year-old movie executive was confirmed by the studio in a statement shared with the press.

“We are incredibly saddened by the passing of our dear friend Steve Mensch,” a spokesperson for the Atlanta-based studio said Saturday. “Steve was a cherished member of our team for more than eight years and well-beloved in the community of Atlanta. It’s hard to imagine not seeing him smiling throughout the halls. We will miss him dearly. Our heart goes out to his family as we all send them our prayers.”

The crash occurred around 8 p.m. in Homosassa, on West White Dogwood Dr. near the intersection of U.S. 19, some 90 miles west of Orlando, local CBS affiliate WTSP reported.

All southbound lanes of the highway were temporarily closed Friday night as officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board investigated the incident. The cause of the crash is still unclear.

The victim, later identified as Mensch, was pronounced dead at the scene. The small single-engine airplane, a Vans RV-12IS, had been registered to Mensch at his Atlanta home, according to FAA records.

Prior to the tragic accident, Mensch managed “all of the day-to-day operations” at the famed Atlanta film studio, one of the largest production facilities in the country, where he worked since July 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile. The University of Buffalo grad previously held leadership roles at Turner Broadcasting and Third Rail Studios.

Perry’s namesake studio, sitting on a massive 330-acre lot on the grounds of the former Fort McPherson army base, has been instrumental in transforming Atlanta into a major hub for the entertainment industry.

The studio had just released “The Six Triple Eight,” a war drama about a mostly Black, all-female battalion in World War II. The film hit select theaters on Friday, the same day as Mensch’s death, and will be available for streaming on Netflix on Dec. 20.

Mensch is survived by his wife, Danila, and three children.

With News Wire Services