WAVERLY - Another member of the Wartburg College board of regents died recently.

Dr. Ralph Otto, 63, of Wilmette, Ill., was killed Aug. 10 when his plane was struck by a Cessna 172 northwest of Rock Springs-Sweetwater County Airport in Wyoming.

An avid pilot and enthusiastic member of the Flying Physicians Association, Otto was flying the plane. Also killed in the crash were Dr. Michael Downey of Columbus, Ohio, also a doctor/pilot who was flying with Otto, and Dave Knezovich, who was flying in the plane that struck Otto's Cirrus SR22.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Otto and Downey were traveling from Montana. They had been cleared to land and were on approach to the Rock Springs airport when their plane collided with the aircraft piloted by Knezovich, who was on a solo student flight.

Otto graduated from Wartburg with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology in 1963. He went on to earn his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School in 1967.

Otto had served on the Wartburg Board of Regents since February 1992. In that capacity, he served as a member of the Academic Affairs committee and Committee on Board Affairs and was previously a member of the Institutional Advancement Committee. He was a cardiothoracic surgeon at Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago and a partner in Cardiac Surgery Associations, S.C.