Steve Mensch, the president and general manager of studio operations at Tyler Perry Studios, died in a plane crash Friday night, according to officials.

Members of the Fort McPherson Local Redevelopment Authority say Steve Mensch, the late president of Tyler Perry Studios, was instrumental in developing hundreds of acres of the former army base in southwest Atlanta.

Mensch was saluted as a strong advocate of the film tax credit that helped make Georgia popular with film studios.