Prominent Rochester gynecologist Dr. Morris Wortman — who faced multiple allegations of “fertility fraud” in recent months — died in a plane crash over the weekend in Orleans County.
Wortman, 72, was a passenger in a homemade, experimental airplane piloted by Earl Luce Jr., of Brockport, who would have turned 70 on Tuesday. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Initial reports are that the fixed wing of the single-engine craft separated from the fuselage, landing in an orchard in the town of Yates. The craft continued another 1,000 to 1,500 yards before crashing into a pasture at 5:42 p.m. Sunday.
No one else was injured.
Luce, of Brockport, is an aviation expert who drew up plans for the plane and built it 20 years ago. The two-seater was a replica of the Wittman Buttercup sport plane from the 1930s
Wortman has faced allegations in recent months of using his own sperm to artificially inseminate multiple women who sought him out for fertility treatment in the 1980s. He is being sued by a former patient who claims he is her biological father.
The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
