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John Denver, JFK Jr. Steve ran as easy. These celebrities were all famously killed in plane crashes. But back in

1993, another aerial disaster decapitated the leadership of California's most beloved burger chain,

creating a succession crisis at the still family-owned and operated restaurant. On December 15th of

that year, the company's president Rich Snyder and vice president

Philip West were killed in a small plane crash along with a third passenger and two crew members.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, days after the incident, the beefy handheld

prez and veep, quote, apparently had broken a longstanding rule about not flying together and were both aboard the chartered jet, end quote.

It's just like the guys who know the formula, Coca-Cola or whatever the fuck.

Snyder, in life a born-again Christian personally responsible for adding Bible verses to the packaging of the chain's menu items,

had run the company for two decades since inheriting leadership at just the

age of 24. The deeply religious and conservative Snyder family, which is consistently donated to

Republican candidates, is an odd fit for the wavy gravy, free-love granola set of California's

left coast. Nevertheless, the high quality of its burgs and shakes and its

polarizing fries have made it a beloved Golden State institution across demographic lines.

Actor Paul Giamatti even chose to eat at one following his Golden Globes victory.

Today, with locations in California and seven other western states, plus Texas, Tennessee,

and soon to be Florida, the

chain remains in the Snyder family via Rich's niece Lindsay, who became the world's youngest

female billionaire when she took the reins at age 30. That same year, she was profiled in

...