Kent Clapp dies in plane crash

Kent W. Clapp, chairman, president and CEO of Medical Mutual of Ohio, the state’s oldest and largest health insurance company, died along with his fiancée, Tracy Turner, 40, when their chartered plane crashed into a Puerto Rico mountainside around noon on December 3.

Clapp and Turner were returning home to Ohio after vacationing in the Caribbean.Clapp, 62, joined Blue Cross of Northwest Ohio, which later became Medical Mutual, as corporate controller in 1976. When the company merged with the former Cleveland Blue Cross & Blue Shield plan 10 years later, he led the combined financial operations. He was promoted to senior vice president in 1989, and became president and COO in 1992. In May 1997, the Board of Trustees named him chairman, president and CEO.

Headquartered in Cleveland, Medical Mutual also has offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton and Youngstown.

Clapp helped to foster Medical Mutual’s involvement with community charities and organizations, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and United Way of Greater Cleveland.

After graduating from Tri-State University in Angola, Ind., in 1970, he joined the Army and served in Vietnam for 19 months working as a bookkeeper by day and foot soldier by night.

He is survived by three sons and two daughters.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.