President of Tyler Perry’s film studios Steve Mensch dies in plane crash

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The president of Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios died on Friday night when the small plane he was piloting crashed on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The studio confirmed on Saturday that Steve Mensch, its 62-year-old president and general manager, had died.

“We are incredibly saddened by the passing of our dear friend Steve Mensch,” the studio said in a statement. “Steve was a cherished member of our team for more than eight years and well-beloved in the community of Atlanta.

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“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.”

Perry then released a statement expressing his grief: “This time of year, grief meets me like an unwanted visitor, as tomorrow marks 15 years since the loss of my mother. It feels especially harder because I have lost so many friends and mentors this year, ranging in age from as young as 40 to 92. And today, yet another loss.

I’ve been trying to understand this tragedy all day - what went wrong with that plane. Steve loved flying, and he loved that plane; he took so much pride in it. I’m praying for his family as we all try to make sense of this heartbreak. Life is but a moment; we are like vapors. Hold strong to the people you love AND TELL THEM!"

The crash happened in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Photos from the scene show the plane having come to rest upside down on a road. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

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Steve Mensch with American TV personality Bevy Smith in 2019Steve Mensch with American TV personality Bevy Smith in 2019
Steve Mensch with American TV personality Bevy Smith in 2019 | Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for HBO

The single-engine Vans RV-12IS was registered to Mr Mensch at his home address in the Atlanta suburb of Fayetteville, according to FAA records.

Mr Mensch helped advocate for and maintain Georgia’s film tax credit of more than $1.0bn (£780m) a year. Those lavish subsidies have made Georgia one of the most active places in the United States for film and television production.

Mr Mensch got into the movie business when he started working for Feature Systems, which provides equipment for the movie industry. Tyler Perry hired Mensch to help create and run his namesake studio in 2016. The studio sprawls across 330 acres of a former Army base in southern Atlanta, Georgia, that Perry acquired in 2015.

Mr Mensch died on the same day that Perry released The Six Triple Eight, a war drama about an mostly black and all-female Second World War unit. The film was shot at the Atlanta studio. Mr Mensch is survived by his wife, Danila, and three children.

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Who is Tyler Perry?

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry | Getty Images for Netflix

Tyler Perry is an American actor, filmmaker and playwright who, after starting writing and producing plays in the 1990s, moved into television and has also appeared in films such as 2009’s Star Trek, Gone Girl and Don’t Look Up, in addition to voice acting in animated films such as Paw Patrol: The Movie.

He bought the the former military base Fort McPherson in Atlanta in 2015, and converted it to studios. It’s one of the biggest studio complexes in America. Perry has produced more than 30 movies, 20 stage productions, and eight TV shows - earning somewhere in the region of $850 million.

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