Steve Human
Paras Griffin/Getty ImagesSteve Humanwho was president and general operations manager for Tyler Perry Studios, died in a plane crash on Friday, December 6. He was 62 years old.
“We are incredibly saddened by the passing of our dear friend, Steve Mensch,” said a spokesperson for Tyler Perry Studios NBC News in a statement. “Steve was a valued member of our team for over 8 years and well-loved in the Atlanta community.”
The statement continued: “It’s hard to imagine not seeing him smile around the halls. We will miss him very much. Our hearts go out to his family as we all send them our prayers.”
Mensch, who is survived by his wife and three children, was piloting a single-seater plane Friday night that crashed on a road in Homosassa, Florida.
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The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office later identified Mensch as the sole occupant of the single-engine plane, NBC News reported. Law enforcement initially shut down the highway.
“Deputies with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office are on the scene of a small motor vehicle accident near the intersection of HWY 19 and Longfellow St. in Homosassa,” read a Facebook post. “The southbound lanes in the area are currently closed and traffic is being diverted. Please avoid this area if possible and take another route – delays can be expected.
The lanes reopened at 2:20 a.m. ET on Saturday, December 7.
Mensch joined Tyler Perry Studios in 2016, shortly after the company converted an Atlanta-area military base into a movie set. It is now one of the largest studio spaces in Hollywood.
“What we’re doing here at Tyler Perry Studios hasn’t been done in a hundred years. We’re building a big movie studio,” Mensch previously explained in a 2019 interview Of paramount importance. “I feel like I’m on earth with a legend.”
Perrynow 55, added at the time that he had “no idea how big it could get.”
“I can fill that space with all the dreams and ideas that are in my head,” Perry said.
Tyler Perry Studio was previously launched from a 30-acre plot that quickly grew.
“I drove up here and immediately saw the vision and all that it could be,” he said Today during a tour of the 12 studio spaces in January 2020. “My imagination is crazy, man. When I start writing a show, I really focus on that. I can hear these people and what they have to say.’
Perry has yet to speak publicly about Mensch’s death.
