Activist Robert Sherman's Plane Lost Control Shortly After Takeoff: NTSB

National Transportation Safety Board investigators in a preliminary report released Thursday said the plane of well-known atheist activist Robert Sherman crashed just seven minutes after taking off from the Poplar Grove Airport after a “loss of control,” according to media reports.

Sherman, 63, was headed to the Schaumburg Regional Airport when his single engine plane crashed in a field near Marengo at about 6:19 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, according to the Daily Herald. Sherman, an active member of the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 153, was supposed to attend an EAA holiday party that night in Schaumburg.

• Pilot Killed in Plane Crash ID'd as Atheist Activist Rob Sherman: UPDATE

The plane was not discovered until the next morning by a passerby in a field at 6105 Meyer Road in Marengo. An autopsy performed Monday revealed Sherman died of of "multiple crush injuries due to an airplane crash,” McHenry County Coroner Anne Majewski said.

Sherman, who was a certified sport pilot, did not have any communication between air traffic control, according to the Northwest Herald. The NTSB report stated the time of his departure and crash was based on preliminary air traffic control radar data, according to the Northwest Herald.

Sherman, 63, of Poplar Grove, ran unsuccessfully this past year as a Green Party candidate for the 5th Congressional District. He was a national spokesman for American Atheists for many years and a disaster volunteer for the American Red Cross, according to his recent candidate profile on the Daily Herald.

He also recently announced plans to run for a 12th District seat, which is located in far southwest Illinois, in the 2018 election.

Sherman lived in Buffalo Grove for 32 years before recently moving to a home with an airplane hangar in Poplar Grove with his wife, Celeste, the Daily Herald reports. He was in the process of setting up an airplane construction business.

Sherman, who once jokingly referred to himself as the most prominent atheist in Illinois, has publicly defended the separation of church and state over the years, the Chicago Tribune reports.

In the 1980s, he made headlines when he questioned the logo used for the city of Zion — an emblem found on the town’s water tower, which was a cross, a dove and a crown and scepter. In 1991, Zion’s seal, which included a cross and the phrase "God reigns," was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. appellate court, the Daily Herald reports. The city was forced to design a new seal.

Sherman was also a well-known radio host. He retired in 2007 from his job as the Morning Drive host of the Rob Sherman Show on AM 1530 WJJG Chicago.

Sherman, who joined the local EAA chapter in the past three years, was relatively new to aviation, longtime EAA Chapter 153 member Bob Meyers told Patch in an e-mail Monday morning. He joined the EAA board last year, Meyers said. And he was currently the chapter’s director of membership and public relations, the Daily Herald reports. He also volunteered to become a Young Eagles coordinator for the organization, Meyers said.

His passion for aviation was clear, Meyers said, and Sherman was thrilled about his recent move to his “hangar home” in Poplar Grove.

“The most interesting thing to me has been that with all of my interactions with him since he joined the chapter, I was completely unaware of his atheist activism. I was aware that he was running for Congress but he made no big deal of that within the chapter,” Meyers said. “All of our conversations revolved around aviation and he clearly had a passion for it.”

Sherman was working on obtaining his private pilot license, according to his obituary. In his obituary, he is remembered as being a passionate man who loved his family:

He was proud of building aircrafts and the parts he made for them. When he liked something he was passionate about it. He was very passionate about separation of church and state issues. But, most of all, he loved his family.

A memorial gathering for Sherman will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 22 at the Schaumburg Regional Airport, 905 W. Irving Park Road.

Photo caption: Rob and his wife, Celeste, in his single-engine airplane. Photo credit: Rob Sherman for Congress website