Pilot loved helping others

Relatives and friends of a Wauconda business owner and pilot who died in a plane crash are remembering him as a kind man who loved flying.

Paul Harris, 57, was headed to Ohio on a charity mission Wednesday when his single-engine airplane crashed near Defiance, a town in the northwest part of that state.

His destination was Findlay, Ohio, where he was to pick up a passenger to fly to Waukegan for medical treatment. Harris regularly made such flights for a humanitarian group called Angel Flight Central.

A 13-year pilot, Harris had made 75 volunteer flights for the Kansas City-based group since 2000, said his wife, Rebecca. Harris helped create a Great Lakes branch serving northern Illinois and Wisconsin, she said Thursday.

"When you're a pilot and you have the love for flying like he did, most people will look for any reason to fly," Rebecca Harris said.

The charity flights weren't just excuses to get into the air, however. Harris genuinely enjoyed helping people through Angel Flight Central, said his mother-in-law, Jean Tucker.

Rebecca Harris has worked for Angel Flight Central, too, organizing local fundraising efforts.

Harris and other pilots with the group were honored during a Kansas City Royals home game against the White Sox this season, Angel Flight officials said.

"Both Paul and Rebecca exemplify the heart of a volunteer," Angel Flight Central CEO Christel Gollnick said. "They took to heart the struggles of other folks, and this was their way of helping."

Harris was the only person aboard the Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six when it went down about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report.

It took off from Campbell Airport near Grayslake.

The cause of the crash may not be known for a year, an FAA spokeswoman said. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board continued investigating the crash Thursday.

Harris was born in Oak Park and grew up in Prospect Heights. A 1968 graduate of Wheeling High School, he met his wife at a dance at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. They married in 1969.

Together they owned Lake Process Systems, a Barrington company that designs and installs industrial sanitary piping systems.

The Harrises lived in Wauconda for 13 years and in Lake Zurich before that.

They also had a home in the Florida Keys, where Harris owned a boat and often fished.

"I think that's where he is now," his wife said.

Harris' survivors include two children and four grandchildren.

Memorial arrangements are pending.