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Friends Of Missing Man Share Laughter, Tears At Service

News Channel 8 photo by INDIRA LEVINE

Friends and family of Zach Schlitt gathered Thursday night at Sacred Heart Church to remember their friend, missing since a plane crash on Sunday.

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By RAY REYES

rreyes@tampatrib.com

Published: December 4, 2008

Updated: 12/04/2008 09:24 pm

Laughter pealed through Sacred Heart Church's sanctuary Thursday night as family and friends recalled Zachary Schlitt's sense of humor and adventure.

Schlitt would have appreciated the laughs, said those who spoke at his memorial service at the downtown Tampa church.

He was, after all, "the coolest person in the world — self-proclaimed," friend Keith Edwards said.

Schlitt, 28, of West Palm Beach, and his friend Darien Peckham, 35, of Tampa, have been missing since Sunday night, when the single-engine plane they were flying apparently crashed in the Gulf of Mexico, about 20 miles southwest of Yankeetown in Levy County, authorities say.

Peckham was a nuclear medicine technologist who started his career at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa. Schlitt worked for Boos Development Group's Palm Beach Gardens office.

Rob Boos, the president of Boos Development Group, told the more than 250 people gathered at the church that Schlitt was gregarious and intelligent, but the word that best described him was "dedicated."

"Zach has, without a doubt, lived life to the fullest with the greatest intensity," Boos said.

Ryan Schlitt told a story about how his precocious brother managed to check himself out of school when he was only 9 years old. Zachary didn't do it to catch up on his homework or to play sports, his brother said.

"He heard about a nearby parochial school having an all-you-can-eat buffet," Ryan Schlitt said.

He and others described Schlitt's infectious smile, his love of going on hunting trips with his father and the many times he tailgated and cheered for his beloved University of Florida Gators.

"I struggled, and continue to do so, that someone who has so much love and laughter was taken from this world," his brother said.

Earlier Thursday, Citrus County Sheriff's Office searchers said they found no sign of Schlitt or Peckham.

Coast Guard officials called off their search Tuesday evening, but Citrus deputies continued a search the search this week.

Deputies said they were joined at the site Thursday by a private company specializing in underwater surveying, mapping and salvage. The sheriff's office said it has no plans to return to the site Friday.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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