Henry John Heinz III (1938-1991), known as John Heinz, was a Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1977 until his death in 1991. He was the heir to the H. J. Heinz Company fortune, born into the prominent Heinz family that founded the company through his great-grandfather. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1960 and earned a Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1963. After service in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Heinz entered politics in 1971, winning a special election to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, succeeding Robert Corbett. He served three terms in the House before winning election to the U.S. Senate in 1976, narrowly defeating Arlen Specter in the Republican primary and William Green III in the general election to succeed retiring Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott. Heinz was reelected in 1982 and 1988 with substantial margins. During his Senate tenure, he focused on consumer protection, aviation safety, and hunger relief, chairing the Senate Special Committee on Aging and advocating for special education funding. On April 4, 1991, Heinz died at age 52 in a tragic aviation accident near Philadelphia, when his Piper PA-60 Aerostar plane, experiencing mechanical issues, collided mid-air with a Bell 412 helicopter dispatched to inspect it, killing Heinz, his pilot, the helicopter crew, and a child patient en route to the hospital. The incident prompted investigations into air traffic control and aviation safety protocols.