News Release

SPH Biostatistics OJ/OC M.S. candidate Martin Spoor on Survival Flight air ambulance in crash into Lake Michigan.

June 5, 2007, UM SPH/ UM Health System release

At 5:50 p.m. ET on June 4, the University of Michigan Health System was notified that a Cessna jet leased by its UM Survival Flight air ambulance program had crashed into Lake Michigan. Early this morning (June 5) the U.S. Coast Guard announced that the rescue mission has been abandoned and that there are no survivors of the crash of the jet carrying six UM Survival Flight crew members. The aircraft was owned by Toy Air and based at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, and was en route back to UM after procuring organs for transplant into a patient at UM. Aboard the aircraft were:

David Ashburn, M.D., a fellow (physician-in-training) in cardiothoracic surgery at UM
Richard Chenault II, a transplant donation specialist with the UM Transplant Program
Dennis Hoyes, a Marlin air pilot
Richard LaPensee, a transplant donation specialist with the UM Transplant Program
Bill Serra, a Marlin air pilot
Martinus (Martin) Spoor, M.D., a cardiac surgeon who had been on the UM faculty since 2003 and was enrolled in the UM School of Public Health Department of Biostatistics On Job/On Campus M.S. program in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis.

Dr. Spoor was scheduled to receive his M.S. degree in late-summer 2007, according to Biostatistics Professor and Chair Rod Little.

"Martin was a brilliant physician, a wonderful scholar, and a great human being. He was lost on a mission to save lives of others. We will miss him greatly," said Little.

Reminder to students, faculty and staff: Resources are available to assist you with any feelings of distress:

Students may contact Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at 764-8312.
Faculty and staff may contact the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program (FASAP) at 936-8660.

Message from UM President Mary Sue Coleman.

Remembering the Survival Flight team.

Contact:
Terri Mellow, (734) 764-8094 or twm@umich.edu
or
Laura Bailey, (734) 647-1848 or (734) 764-1552 or baileylm@umich.edu

Updates

UPDATES ON THE CRASH and aftermath from the University of Michigan Health System. This link includes a fact sheet and FAQs, memorial fund info, a memo board for condolences, and background information on Survival Flight and the Transplant Center.

Message from SPH Dean Warner

Tributes from Dr. Spoor's classmates and colleagues

Dr. Preeti Malani, assistant professor of internal medicine at the UM Health System, became friends with Spoor while in the UM SPH OJ/OC program, which attracts doctors who are interested in doing clinical research. They attend classes four days a month on top of regular patient and work loads.

"When I think about Martin, I think about how much he loved his family," Malani said. "He would come in late to OJ/OC sometimes because he would take his kids to hockey drills or some other activity.

"He was so busy with so many things in his life, but his wife and children came first." Martin and his wife, Dr. Susan Torrible, a geriatrician who works part-time in Windsor, have two girls and a boy.

Malani and Spoor sometimes exchanged e-mails late in the evening over homework. "It's a special friendship that you develop because of the intensity and the experiences, good and bad, of the program," Malani said.

"We were all together over Memorial Day," Malani said. To recognize his hard work and impending graduation from OJ/OC, on Memorial Day, Susan had organized a 'Smarty Marty' party of friends and neighbors.

Varsha Mehta, a clinical associate professor in Pharm.D. at the UM Health System, also attended the OJ/OC program with Spoor.

"Martin always brought a smile to my face and made the most difficult days of OJ/OC cheerful with his wit and sense of humor. He will be dearly missed by one and all of our OJ/OC friends," Mehta said.

Dr. Pratima Sharma, another OJ/OC cohort student, said Spoor was "a gem of a person," with a ready smile and despite his work and family commitments, always there to help. Spoor and his wife were very involved in several community groups as well as the children's schools. For instance, Malani said Spoor was a celebrity chef for a Transplant Center fund raiser at BD's Mongolian Barbeque.

A native Canadian, Spoor loved hockey and played competitively, Malani said. He always had several hockey sticks and other equipment in his car, and his love for hockey was transmitted to his children, and he built them an ice rink in the backyard.

"He had a nice, quiet, unflappable demeanor, but what he did he did with his heart," Malani said.