The Elgin community is mourning the loss of John E. Juergensmeyer, who died late Sunday in a plane crash near Plano in Kendall County.

Juergensmeyer was a former Kane County assistant state’s attorney and assistant public defender, and served as assistant attorney general for the state of Illinois.

He was the founder of Juergensmeyer & Associates, P.C., Attorneys at Law, and was active in the a leader of local Rotary, Jaycee, Boy Scouts, Salvation Army, United Methodist Church, Judson College, The Life Center, and many other groups, according to the firm’s website.

He was appointed to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences by President Ronald Reagan, was a professor of constitutional law and political science at Judson College in Elgin, and served on the teaching faculty of the University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, and the University of Hawaii.

According to articles in the Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune, the 80-year-old Juergensmeyer was alone and flying his twin-engine turbo prop passenger plane from Collinsville to a Chicago-area airport after visiting his brother in a nursing home. His plane crashed around 9:45  p.m. Sunday in a cornfield at 15900 Griswold Springs Road in Kendall County.

Media sources said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

Juergensmeyer served as chairman of the Illinois and Chicago Bar Association Local Government Law Committees, and has written and lectured extensively for numerous professional associations.

According to his firm’s website, he was a member of the bar associations of Kane County, Cook County, Illinois and American.

He has been involved in “Refusenik” and conservation activities and has been on boards of two local banks, and has many active business and real estate interests, including subdivision development. He served with the United States Air Force Intelligence Service in Japan and elsewhere in the Far East, leaving as a reserve captain.

Dr. Elizabeth Juergensmeyer, his wife, is professor of developmental biology and chairman of the Science-Math Division at Judson College.

Funeral arrangements are pending as of 8:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29.