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Services set Saturday for Dorsches

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 13, 2009

TAMPA - A memorial service for Dan and Cyndi Dorsch, the New Tampa couple killed last week in a plane crash in Virginia, is set for Saturday.

A Catholic Mass and funeral will begin at 2 p.m. at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 9715 N. 56th St., Temple Terrace.

Family and friends will gather afterward from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club, 5811 Tampa Palms Blvd.

"All those who would like to attend are welcome at either or both gatherings," said family spokeswoman Kim Francis.

Dan Dorsch was piloting his single-engine Pilatus PC-12 on July 5 when it crashed on a farm owned by Virginia Tech. The couple was returning from New York, where Cyndi and her dance instructor, Stepan Matkovski, participated in a ballroom dancing competition.

Matkovski and Dan Dorsch's marketing director, Jenny Brown, also died in the crash.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the plane went down at 10:06 a.m. after Dorsch radioed air traffic control that a rear panel had come off the exterior of his plane. He planned to divert the aircraft to Lynchburg, Va., but never made it.

Dorsch was a fast-food entrepreneur who gained national recognition when he took over as chief executive officer of the beleaguered Checker's Drive-In Restaurants in 1999.

He turned around the company in less than two years. The self-made millionaire began his fast-food career at the age of 15 cleaning the parking lot at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in California, where he met and married his high school sweetheart, Cyndi.

The couple is survived by three sons.

For more information about the services, call Corpus Christi at (813) 988-1722 or the Tampa Palms country club at (813) 972-3375.

In lieu of flowers, send charitable contributions to the Daniel & Cynthia Dorsch Family Fund at Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, 550 North Reo St., Suite 301, Tampa, FL 33609; tax ID No. 593001853.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

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