This article is from the archive of our partner .

Had it not been for a busy schedule, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell might have been on the doomed jet that crashed last night in Massachusetts, killing several people including Lewis Katz, the new co-owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rendell says Katz tried to persuade him Friday to attend an event at historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's Massachusetts home, but Rendell had another commitment."

The plane crash happened late yesterday when a Gulfstream IV crashed while taking off from Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass., and reportedly "erupted into a fireball."

Rendell noted that Katz had died at "maybe the high point of his life," just days after he and a partner won an $88 million auction for the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.