John Walton

New York, June 28 (Reuters): Billionaire John Walton, the second son of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton and a Wal-Mart board member, died today when a small plane he was piloting crashed shortly after take-off near his Wyoming home.

Walton, an experienced pilot who was a resident of Jackson Hole, was flying a 400- to 500-pound home-made aircraft, with an aluminum body, cloth-covered wings and a small engine, Grand Teton National Park spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said. It crashed onto a sagebrush-covered plain at 1820 GMT, she said.

Park rangers were investigating the incident, she said, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration had declined to do so as it involved an unregistered aircraft. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

Walton, 58, is ranked 11th on Forbes magazine’s most recent list of the world’s richest people, with a net worth estimated at $18.2 billion.

Walton served in the US Army Green Berets as a medic during the Vietnam War. He was awarded a Silver Star for helping save the lives of several members of his unit while under intense enemy fire, according to Wal-Mart.

Throughout his life, Walton pursued a variety of business interests, including crop dusting in the 1970s and boat building in the 1980s and 1990s. He was also a keen philanthropist. Walton is survived by his wife and their son, his mother, two brothers, a sister and their families. His brother S. Robson Walton is chairman of Wal-Mart’s board.

“This is a horrible tragedy. What is so unusual about this is it is the founder’s son,” Bill Dreher, a Wal-Mart analyst at Deutsche Bank, said. “Sam Walton was brilliant with estate planning. I don’t know the details with John Walton, but I would expect there would be a smooth transition.”

Walton was a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, serving on the board’s strategic planning and finance committee. He and the rest of the Walton family owned about 40 per cent of Wal-Mart shares through Walton Enterprises, LLC.