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BOISE, Idaho — The chief executive and chairman of the Boise-based memory chip maker Micron died Friday morning when a small, experimental fixed-wing plane he was piloting crashed at the Boise airport, the company said.
Micron Technology spokesman Dan Francisco confirmed Steve Appleton's death in a release, and trading in Micron stocks was halted Friday.
Appleton, a professional stunt plane pilot and former motocross racer, was the only one in the plane when it crashed at the Boise airport.
In a prepared statement, Micron's board of directors said, "Steve's passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large."
Micron is one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Through its worldwide operations, Micron manufactures and markets a full range of DRAM, NAND and NOR flash memory.
Appleton, 51, started on the factory floor of Micron in 1983 and worked his way up. In 1994, he was appointed to the position of chairman, chief executive officer and president. He assumed his current position in 2007.
It's not the first time Appleton has been in a small plane crash, and questions have been raised in the past about whether the head of a large corporation should be engaging in that hobby. On July 8, 2004, Appleton sustained a punctured lung, head injuries, ruptured disk and broken bones after his stunt plane crashed in the desert east of Boise.
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