John Shumejda, president and CEO of AGCO Corp., died in a plane crash along with Ed Swingle, senior president for sales and marketing, after their private jet crashed Jan. 4, during take-off in England.
The company said its executive chairman, Robert Ratliff, will assume the additional responsibility of president and CEO on an interim basis.
British authorities said five people — three crew members and two passengers — were killed Friday, Jan. 4, when a U.S.-bound twin-engine Challenger Aircraft executive jet crashed on take-off at Birmingham airport in central England at 12:07 GMT. Witnesses said one of the plane's wings clipped the ground and the aircraft then flipped over. The plane was on fire before it hit the ground and exploded in a fireball, they said. The Birmingham airport spokesman said the Canadair Challenger aircraft, capable of carrying up to 20 people, was believed to have been heading for Bangor, Maine, where it was registered.
