Katz addresses staff employers to inform them why he bought out the Inquirer's other partners. (Michael Bryant/Inquirer)

Lewis Katz, the co-owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, was one of seven people killed in a fiery plane crash late Saturday night at Hanscom Field in Massachusetts. The private jet, bound for Atlantic City, departed around 9:40 p.m., but veered off the runway and exploded into a 60-foot fireball. Everyone on board was killed.

Katz was a attending an event in Concord, Mass. hosted by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, according to the Boston Globe. 

The 72-year-old businessman, and former New Jersey Nets owner, just completed an $88 million deal with H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest to buy out the Inquirer's other partners last Tuesday. The buyout officially ended a bitter and public dispute over editorial control of the paper. Lenfest remains adamant that the deal will move forward, despite the death of his friend and partner.

You can read more at the Boston Globe and the Huffington Post.

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