Alexander Wojciechowicz Jr. was ferrying his daughter and other relatives to San Juan Airport on Saturday.
By: Steve Rauscher
A prominent local inventor, businessman and philanthropist was killed along with his daughter and three other family members Saturday when the plane he was flying crashed in Puerto Rico.
Alexander F. Wojciechowicz Jr. was ferrying his daughter, Katherine W. Angrick, 37; her husband, Mark Angrick, 41; Ms. Angrick’s 4-year-old son, Alexander Heath Gnagy; and Mr. Angrick’s mother, Lois, from his home on Puerto Rico’s Culebra Island to San Juan Airport on Saturday afternoon. His two-engine Cessna Conquest II turboprop nine-seater went down in El Yunque National Park, a 28,000-acre rain forest about 25 miles southeast of the Puerto Rican capital, according to published reports.
His wife, Carol, was waiting at the family’s vacation home when he was killed. She returned to Princeton Monday and declined to comment.
The cause of the crash has yet to be determined, but friends and relatives attribute it to mechanical failure.
"I’ve been in the co-pilot seat with (Mr. Wojciechowicz)," said John Lasley, a longtime friend and fellow pilot. "And there isn’t a more competent, careful pilot I’ve ever known."
Officials at the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, were unavailable for comment Monday.
A township resident since he began studying aeronautical engineering at Princeton University more than 40 years ago, Mr. Wojciechowicz "Woji" to those who knew him well was well-known locally for a combination of creativity, competence and kindness that won him many friends.
"I just don’t know anybody who could say anything bad about him," said Louise Robichaud, friend and neighbor for 31 years of the Wojciechowiczes. "He had an incredible joie de vivre. His personality was like a magnet. It attracted so many people, and made a difference in so many people’s lives."
In 1968, Mr. Wojciechowicz started his own business in Farmingdale, Alto Development Corp., a medical device manufacturer. As head of the company, he designed surgical aids such as a special metal suture used in open-heart surgery. He held three patents.
"I think it would be fairly accurate to describe him as a relatively successful inventor, by any standard you use," said Richard Woodbridge, Mr. Wojciechowicz’s attorney, "whether it’s by the creativity he showed in developing his designs, or the financial success he was able to achieve with them."
Of his many defining qualities, it was his generosity in all aspects of his life that most of those who knew him speak of first. He and his wife raised three foster children. They often hosted benefits for The Medical Center at Princeton, and gave donations to dozens of charities. His daughter, Susan Caldwell, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recalls Mr. Wojciechowicz loaning money to an acquaintance to start a microbrewery in Seattle.
"The idea seemed a little far-fetched, a little frivolous," she said. "But my dad just decided he wanted to help this guy out, because somebody had helped him out when he was just starting. … And he would never worry about getting his money back, although he always did."
Mr. Wojciechowicz was also very generous to Princeton Township Republicans, said Mr. Woodbridge, a former Princeton Township mayor. Ms. Wojciechowicz served on the Township Committee between 1986 and 1989. The couple held the Republican Association of Princeton’s annual picnic in the back yard of their painstakingly restored historic home on Herrontown Road.
"I never heard anything negative said about the Wojciechowiczes, which is unusual," Mr. Woodbridge said. "I think they represented the best in local politics, which is to ignore the political labels and deal with the realities."
Current Mayor Phyllis Marchand, a Democrat, agreed.
"I had the utmost respect for him. He was always a gentleman, and a very, very generous man," she said. "We are all grieving for Alex’s loss and mourning with Carol."
Mr. Wojciechowicz’s death comes as a shock to those who knew him well and remember his vitality.
"They didn’t come any better than Alex," said Mr. Lasley. "It seemed like everything he did, he did well. Nobody ever had a better friend, and he had a lot of friends."
Obituary information was not immediately available. Services for Mr. Wojciechowicz are scheduled 4 p.m. Saturday at Princeton University Chapel.