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Memorial service for Dorsches set

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN

sackerman@tampatrib.com

Published: July 14, 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 from 4 to 6 p.m. at 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 were returning from New York, where Cyndi Dorsch and her dance instructor, Stepan Matkovski, participated in a ballroom dance 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 restaurant entrepreneur who gained national recognition when he took over as chief executive officer of the troubled Checkers Drive-In Restaurants in 1999.

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

The couple are survived by three sons.

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

Donations can be made 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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