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Glen M. de Vries, 49, of New York, NY, and Thomas P. Fisher, 54, of the Jefferson portion of Lake Hopatcong, were both aboard the single-engine Cessna 172 that crashed in a wooded area of a state park near Lake Kemah around 4 p.m. Thursday, according to New Jersey State Police spokeswoman Brandi Slota and the FAA.
The plane had been reported missing nearly an hour earlier.
de Vries began his private pilot training five years ago with his Fisher, who owned and operated Fisher Aviation, a Fairfield, NJ flight school.
Their flight was bound for Sussex Airport from Essex County Airport when it went down, according to the FAA, which was assisting the The National Transportation Safety Board in investigating the cause of the crash.
Daily Voice broke the news early Friday afternoon that de Vries was aboard the plane.
de Vries made headlines last month for a highly-publicized mission with Jeff Bezos' company, Blue Origin.
He and the "Star Trek" actor spent more than 10 minutes in space with Australian entrepreneur Chris Boshuizen and Blue Origin executive Audrey Powers, then later told Pittsburgh station KDKA that he hoped the Oct. 13 adventure would inspire others to do the same.
"I thought that would be important to me before we went up, and having done it makes me feel twice as much conviction," de Vries said. "Maybe a thousand times more conviction. That is something we need to make accessible, in an equitable way, to as many people on the planet as possible."
"We are devastated to hear of the sudden passing of Glen de Vries," Blue Origin tweeted. "He brought so much life and energy to the entire Blue Origin team and to his fellow crewmates. His passion for aviation, his charitable work, and his dedication to his craft will long be revered and admired."
"The world lost a visionary," added Nadia M. Bracken, who worked at Medidata Solutions, co-founded by de Vries. "May his legacy of innovation in the life sciences industry live on."
de Vries -- who studied probabilistic algorithms at NYU and has a degree in molecular biology and genetics from Carnegie Mellon -- once described himself as the nerdiest kid at summer camp.
The Manhattan native went on to create Medidata, which has been touted as "the world’s most-used clinical research platform," with a staff recently estimated at nearly 700 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
Tarek Sherif, who co-founded the company with him, once called de Vries "absolutely brilliant," as well as "open-minded and very gregarious."
"Our thoughts and support go out to Glen's family," said a spokesman for Dassault Systèmes, which acquired Medidata for $5.8 billion two years ago.
"Our deepest sympathy also goes out to our MEDIDATA team, which Glen co-founded," a statement from Dassault read. "His tireless energy, empathy and pioneering spirit left their mark on everyone who knew him. We will truly miss Glen, but his dreams — which we share — live on: we will pursue progress in life sciences & healthcare as passionately as he did."
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