Glen de Vries (June 29, 1972 – November 11, 2021) was an American entrepreneur in the field of medical science and pharmacology. He was the co-founder and co-CEO of

Medidata Solutions Medidata Solutions is an American technology company that develops and markets software as a service (SaaS) for clinical trials. These include protocol development, clinical site collaboration and management; randomization and trial supply manage ...

Early life and education

De Vries grew up in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and showed a passion for computers and science at a young age. He attended the

Ethical Culture Fieldston School Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also referred to as Fieldston, is a private independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1,700 students with 480 facult ...

in Manhattan and the Bronx, NY. His mother encouraged him to learn ballroom dancing in high school, and he danced competitively with her. De Vries attended

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

and graduated in 1994. He taught himself to speak Japanese. De Vries received his undergraduate degree in molecular biology and genetics from Carnegie Mellon University, worked as a research scientist at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and studied computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematics. De Vries is the author, with

Jeremy Blachman Jeremy Blachman (born 1979), a 2005 graduate of Harvard Law School, is a journalist and the author of ''Anonymous Lawyer: A Novel''. Biography Blachman graduated from Hunter College High School in 1996. He received his undergraduate degree from P ...

, of the 2020 book ''The Patient Equation: The Precision Medicine Revolution in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond'', about the use of data in the future of medicine.

Blue Origin flight

On October 13, 2021, de Vries accompanied actor

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

and two tourists on a

New Shepard New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin for space tourism. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and vertical land ...

launch vehicle as part of the

Blue Origin NS-18 Blue Origin NS-18 was a sub-orbital spaceflight mission operated by Blue Origin that launched on 13 October 2021. The mission was the eighteenth flight of the company's New Shepard integrated launch vehicle and spacecraft. It was the second cr ...

suborbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital r ...

flight into

outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

Death

De Vries was killed in a small plane crash involving a

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

in a heavily wooded area outside

Hampton Township, New Jersey Hampton Township is a township in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 4,893, a decline of 303 (-5.8%) from the 2010 census count of 5,196, which had in turn incre ...

, on November 11, 2021, at the age of 49. He was a certified private pilot with an instrument rating. The plane's other occupant, Thomas Fischer, also died in the crash. As a tribute, his initials were added to the

mission patch A mission patch is a cloth reproduction of a spaceflight mission emblem worn by astronauts and other personnel affiliated with that mission. It is usually executed as an embroidered patch. The term ''space patch'' is mostly applied to an emblem desi ...

of Blue Origin's crewed flight

Blue Origin NS-19 Blue Origin NS-19 was a crewed New Shepard sub-orbital spaceflight mission operated by Blue Origin that launched on 11 December 2021. The flight was scheduled to launch on 9 December 2021, later delayed to 11 December 2021. The mission patch o ...

, which took place on December 11, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Vries, Glen 1972 births 2021 deaths Accidental deaths in New Jersey Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Businesspeople from New York (state) Carnegie Mellon University alumni People who have flown in suborbital spaceflight Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2021 New Shepard passengers Space tourists