Gerry Niewood, Coleman Mellett and Madeline Loftus were on Flight 3407

From the NY POST

Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett

Two members of jazz musician Chuck Mangione’s band were among the 50 killed when a plane that crashed into a Buffalo, New York, house, a publicist said Friday.

Publicist Sanford Brokaw identified the band members as Gerry Niewood, 64, of Rochester, N.Y., and Coleman Mellett of Maryland. Niewood played saxophone and flute and Mellett was a guitarist.

In a statement Mangione said: “I’m in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy of the crash of Flight 3407, which took the lives of my dear friends and band members. I am grieving and praying with their families and friends.”

Mangione and his band were scheduled to perform Friday with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at Kleinhans Music Hall. The concert has been postponed.

Madeline Loftus

Maddy Loftus, 24, of Parsippany, N.J., was headed to Buffalo for a reunion of the Buffalo State women’s ice hockey team she played for in 2002 and 2003, said Jeff Ventura, the school’s sports information director.

Loftus’ younger brother, Frankie Loftus, said his sister never worried about flying because their father was a pilot for Continental. He said he dropped her off at the airport Thursday.

“She was an amazing person. She loved to make everyone happy,” said her 22-year-old brother Frankie Loftus. “Everyone who met her loved her instantly.”

Loftus transferred to St. Mary’s University in Minnesota after her sophomore year, Ventura said.

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Marvin Renslow

Renslow, the plane’s pilot, lived in the Tampa suburb of Lutz, Fla., and grew up in southwestern Iowa.

Renslow, 47, joined Colgan Air, the company operating the flight, in September 2005 and had flown 3,379 hours with the airline.

Jeff Hiser, who went to school with Renslow in Shenandoah, Iowa, and is now the activities director at Shenandoah High School, said Renslow graduated from high school in 1979 and left Iowa to pursue his goal of becoming a pilot. He remembered Renslow as outgoing, involved in the fine arts and an excellent drummer.

A minister at the Renslow house in Florida said the family did not wish to talk. Neighbors said he had two children in elementary school.