Pictured Above: The Steinberg family. Credit: Facebook.

A small plane crashed outside of Costa Rica leaving ten American tourists and two pilots dead on Sunday, Dec. 31.

Of the twelve killed was a family of five from Scarsdale NY. The New Yorkers who were killed in the crash have been identified as Bruce and Irene Steinberg and their three sons, Matthew, 13, William, 18, and Zachary, 19.

The family was known for being extremely active in their community as well as very involved with the UJA-Federation of New York, the American Jewish Committee, and Seeds of Peace.

Irene Steinberg, 51, was particularly active with the UJA-Federation of New York. In 2015, Irene chaired the annual campaign kickoff of the organization’s Scarsdale Women’s Philanthropy group.

Bruce Steinberg, 50, was a graduate of Columbia Business School. He worked as a senior investor at Bridgwater Associates, a large hedge fund headed by Ray Dalio.

Rabbi Jonathan Blake of the Westchester Reform Temple, where the Steinbergs were members, is currently mourning the loss of the family along with the community.

“This tragedy hits our community very hard,” Rabbi Blake wrote in a Facebook post Sunday.

“All the Steinbergs will be remembered by their Scarsdale and the temple community as among the most devoted to the welfare of the Jewish community and the beauty of the Jewish tradition,” Rabbi Blake said.

Bruce’s sister, Tamara Steinberg Jacobson, also mourned the loss of her brother, sister-in-law, and three nephews in a Facebook post Sunday night.

“We are in utter shock and disbelief right now,” Jacobson wrote to those who had reached out to her and her parents.

Video on crhoy.com (Costa Rica Today) shows the burning debris next to the tail section of the plane.

According to the Aviation Safety Network website, the plane was a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan owned and operated by Nature Air.

Shelly Greenstein - Forman

editor@sephardic.org

Shelly Forman is currently serving as editor-in-chief of Sephardic.Org. Shelly curates the content that comes through to Sephardic and makes sure that each and every article, video, and image on the site goes along with our amazing mission statement.