A millionaire seafood entrepreneur who once appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list was among the five Americans killed in Wednesday’s helicopter crash in Kenya.
Married father of two Roger Duarte, 42, died alongside five other passengers and the pilot after the helicopter crashed near the foothills of a mountain in northern Kenya on Wednesday morning.
Duarte, Telemundo exec José Suárez, and married couple, Henry Parra and Adam Hlavaty, were identified as the Americans on board.
The crash also claimed the lives of director general of Ecuador’s intelligence agency, Michele Sensi-Contugi, his wife, Stephany Maria Hollihan Vasconez, a US dual citizen, and experienced pilot Josh Outram.
Duarte’s family said in a statement they were “devastated and heartbroken” by his death.
“The magnitude of this tragedy is impossible to comprehend and there are no words to express the depth of our pain,” they said.
“I’m very devastated right now,” Duarte’s 82-year-old dad, Roger Duarte Sr, told the Daily Mail.
“I don’t have the words to express my feelings. We don’t know much about what happened. They are investigating the crash.”
Duarte, who sold South American cigars to his dad’s friends as a schoolboy, launched his first business, George Stone Crab, in 2008 at 24 after leaving his career in investment banking.
He initially sold crab claws to neighbors in Key Biscayne, Fla, before teaming up with a major wholesaler.
“I didn’t feel I was going to grow at an investment bank, and I wasn’t interested in getting an MBA [Master of Business Administration degree]. It was my turn to start my own business,” he told Bloomberg in March 2013.
In 2012, he launched the restaurant My Cerviche with chef Sam Gorenstein and brought in $1 million worth of sales in just one year from a test store.
He was dubbed the “Stone Crab King” by Bloomberg before being named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2016.
“He had such an incredible work ethic,” a businessman pal, Lee Schrager, told WPLG in tribute.
Duarte lived in a $2.8 million mansion with his wife, Nicole Valls Duarte, and their two children. Nicole Valls Duarte is the daughter of Felipe Valls Jr., the founder of the iconic Versailles restaurant in Miami’s Little Havana district.
He and Nicole welcomed their second child in November 2024.
The helicopter, a Eurocopter Ec130 B4, came down near Mount Ololokwe, in Samburu County, on Wednesday morning – and the cause of the crash is still being investigated.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the guests, crew, their families and loved ones, and all those affected by this tragic accident,” Lady Lori Helicopters, which operated the flight, said in a statement.
The company said it was operating a charter flight from the Suyian Conservancy to Mount Ololokwe when the crash occurred.
Luxury tour agency &Beyond confirmed that the chopper was carrying its guests.
With Post wires
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