File photo This photo of Ray Johnson was taken in 2013, after Johnson was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame. Johnson was a pilot, instructor and business owner who founded Midwest Aviation in Marshall. He died Monday, as a result of an aviation accident in Wisconsin.

MARSHALL — A plane crash in Wisconsin has claimed the life of a longtime Marshall resident and pilot.

But Marshall city officials said Monday that Ray Johnson had an important impact on aviation in the Marshall area, as well as on many people in the community.

“Certainly, Ray will be missed. He was aviation” in the Marshall area, said Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes.

Johnson was a pilot, flight instructor and local business owner who founded Midwest Aviation in Marshall. He died Monday after a Thursday plane crash in Lake Winnebago, near Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Johnson was 84.

Authorities said three people were injured when the six-seat seaplane hit a large wave and overturned while taking off near the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Seaplane Base. Another passenger in the plane, 71-year-old Diane Linker of Sauk Rapids, died Friday.

Johnson had a long career in aviation that led to his induction into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013. He worked as a crop spraying pilot before starting his own aviation service business, Tracy Air Service, in Tracy in 1963. The business expanded, and in 1973, Johnson moved it to Marshall, where it became Midwest Aviation.

Midwest Aviation is still family owned, and today it is operated by Johnson’s son Pete Johnson.

“You can see that he instilled pride in aviation in his family as well,” said Marshall Public Works Director Glenn Olson.

Besides helping to provide important local aviation services for many years, Johnson was instrumental in forming a vision for the Marshall airport, and trained new generations of pilots, Byrnes and Olson said.

Johnson had “a deep understanding” of how important aviation was to southwest Minnesota, Byrnes said.

“Ray was a real gentleman,” and the kind of person who kept his promises, Olson said.

Besides being very active in aviation and development at the airport in Marshall, Johnson also helped to organize community events. Olson said Johnson worked to put together classic car shows held at the airport, and past air shows held in Marshall in coordination with Schwan’s Company.

In its biography of Johnson, the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame said he logged more than 32,000 flight hours in his career. Even after he retired, Johnson never gave up his love of flying, Olson and Byrnes said.

“We really hate to see him go. We express our sincere sympathies to his whole family,” Olson said.