Former Penn State professor Sean O’Keefe survived a plane crash that killed former Alaska U.S. Senator Ted Stevens and four other passengers Tuesday in Alaska.
O’Keefe, 54, was a business administration professor at Penn State from 1993-1996 and served as Assistant to the Vice President of Research, university spokesman Geoff Rushton said.
O’Keefe and his son Kevin survived the crash yesterday.
The two escaped the crash with broken bones and other minor injuries that are not considered life-threatening.
O’Keefe was NASA administrator for three years from 2001 to 2004. He served in that position when the shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry in 2003.
He now serves as the CEO of EADS North America, a defense contractor.
He co-authored a book with Penn State professor Gerald Susman about the post-Cold War defense industry, Susman said.
The book, “Defense Industry in the Post Cold War Era,” was published in 1999, Susman said.
O’Keefe left his position as Secretary of the Navy and sought a teaching position at Penn State in 1992, Susman said.
Susman described O’Keefe as friendly and easygoing during his tenure at Penn State.
“I can’t remember a terse word that we exchanged in the four years we worked together,” Susman said.
O’Keefe taught a graduate class with Susman called “Corporate Innovation Strategies,” before O’Keefe left Penn State for a teaching position at Syracuse University, Susman said.
In his time at Penn State, O’Keefe was popular among his students, Susman said.
“He was admirable and he was engaging with students,” Susman said. “They always liked him.”
O’Keefe, his son and two others survived the crash, but Stevens and four others did not.
Stevens served longer than any other Republican Senator but lost re-election in 2008 after he was convicted on seven counts of corruption charges.
He was one of two survivors in a 1978 plane crash at Anchorage International Airport that killed his wife, Ann.
Later in his career, Stevens became known for securing millions of dollars for a project that became known as the “Bridge to Nowhere.” The bridge became a symbol of wasteful government spending.
At least three of the crash victims were airlifted to Anchorage, Alaska National Guard spokeswoman Kalei Brooks Rupp said.