Plane crash: Coast Guard still searching ocean for veterinarian Ken Simmons

Feb. 03--One day after Dr. Ken Simmons' single-engine plane went down in stormy weather en route to the Bahamas, friends described the popular Lantana veterinarian as devoted, charitable, uplifting and "extremely smart."

All day Saturday, the Coast Guard continued to search an area 23 miles east of Palm Beach for the Piper PA 32 aircraft that reportedly carried Simmons, his wife Alice McCormick Simmons and their blonde golden retrievers, Bailey and Lily. Coast Guard officials late Saturday said the search would continue through the night.

"Unfortunately, we are still looking for them. We conducted search and rescue efforts through the night, and we will continue," said Coast Guard Seaman Erik Villa in Miami. Those efforts are supported by two Coast Guard cutters and an HC-144 aircraft, he said.

Simmons' plane took off from Palm Beach County Park Airport in Lantana on Friday afternoon, shortly before that airport's flight restrictions went into effect for President Donald Trump's weekend getaway to Mar-a-Lago.

The small plane, which was headed to Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas, ran into thunderstorms at about 1 p.m., according to the FAA, which was alerted to the crash by air-traffic controllers. The area was under a marine-weather advisory when the plane disappeared, according to reports by the National Weather Service.

"It appears he got close to one cell or thunderstorm and started to deviate, then hit another cell. There are so many things that can happen in that scenario," said local flight instructor Guy Maira after viewing the plane's path on FlightAware, the tracking site. "I wouldn't want to speculate, but getting stuck in between cells can be dangerous."

Maira, a friend of the 62-year-old Simmons since grade school, says the veterinarian was an experienced and thoughtful pilot.

"Not only was he always happy, he was extremely smart and always methodical. It would surprise me if he did not do everything he could to work his way through the weather," Maira said.

Simmons' generous spirit was hailed across the community in 2012, when he treated a retired Florida Highway Patrol K-9 named Drake, who was shot four times during a robbery. Simmons, a Lake Worth native who studied veterinary medicine at the University of Florida, flew the injured dog to Gainesville for treatment before he and Drake's owner made the difficult decision that the dog was beyond saving.

A veterinarian for 30 years, Simmons operated an animal hospital and pet daycare center/resort in Greenacres, but sold them in recent years. He also helped found the Healthy Aquatics Marine Institute of Florida, a West Palm nonprofit devoted to coral reef conservation and educating children on undersea life. He and his wife had two adult sons.

"Kenny and Alice are amazing people," said Dr. Fred Barr, a West Palm Beach plastic surgeon who is a longtime friend of the couple.

He struggled with which tense to use when speaking about Simmons. "Kenny was an amazing man, larger than life. He was fun, giving, charitable. That's who he was."

Loving and healing animals is who he was as well, friends say.

"Ken gave his life to his work. He loved animals so much because of their pure love and acceptance," said Jan Tuckwood, a longtime editor at The Palm Beach Post and Simmons' friend since fourth grade at North Grade Elementary School in Lake Worth.

"He was one of the smartest people I have ever met and one of the top students in our class at Lake Worth High School, the class of 1974. Brilliant, ambitious, passionate and compassionate -- that's how I would describe Ken. He was in the front row -- in school and in life."

Simmons made headlines when he opened his pet resort on Lake Worth Road nearly two decades ago. The place, which he described as "more like a part of Disney World than a kennel," had a 2-acre bark park, plus stylish, cage-free digs for dogs and cats. At the time, a Post reporter asked him how he would like to be remembered.

Simmons' response:

"As a good father and a good husband, as someone who knows that having family and friends is the most important thing in life."

Staff writer Eliot Kleinberg contributed to this story.

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