Friends, colleagues remember Oro Valley man who died in plane crash near Picacho Peak | News

ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (KVOA) — Friends and colleagues are remembering the life of an Oro Valley man who died in a plane crash near Picacho Peak State Park.

Colleagues tell News 4 Tucson he was an engineer whose work left a mark on many Tucson buildings.

“I received an email from our mechanical engineer with an excerpt from a wire service saying this had happened.”

Corky Poster remembers the moment he found out his friend James Galvin was dead while on a single-engine plane.

Pinal County deputies say Galvin crashed near the summit of Picacho Peak Saturday morning.

“We are all sad about this.”

The word “we are” refers to Galvin's colleagues at Poster Mirto McDonald, an architectural firm in Tucson.

Galvin worked for this company as a consulting structural engineer.

“We have about a dozen people working here and our specialty is affordable housing, historic preservation and community buildings,” Poster said.

The poster states that Galvin left his mark by helping to restore many of the buildings you see in the Tucson area.

Some of these include the historic Tucson High School gymnasium, the Steam Pump Ranch, and even the Fort Lowell Officers' Quarters and Museum.

“How do you take this very old building that's falling apart and how do you make it safe for people? That was his specialty,” Poster said.

“And he always brought a lot of integrity and goodwill to everything we did together,” said Jon Mirto, a colleague of Galvin’s.

Galvin was described in a recent obituary as a devoted family man.

He also said he was a lover of airplanes and enjoyed flying around southern Arizona.

This company accepts that Galvin will no longer serve in this office.

“We’re all really going to miss him,” Mirto said.

“Jim (James) was a great guy,” Poster said.

Galvin was 68 years old.

AAn obituary said Galvin left behind a wife, two children and two grandchildren.

His wife told News 4 Tucson he was a “great guy.”

More information about the circumstances leading to the fatal plane crash has still not been released by the National Transportation Safety Board or the Federal Aviation Administration.