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Read the press release here.

Connecticut Businessman Dies in Crash Near LaGuardia Airport

By Katie Honan | March 19, 2015 11:15am
 Larry Penna, 61, was driving with his wife when he crashed on the Grand Central Parkway, officials said.
Larry Penna, 61, was driving with his wife when he crashed on the Grand Central Parkway, officials said.
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EAST ELMHURST — A Connecticut businessman was heading home with his wife after a vacation when he swerved into a median near LaGuardia Airport and died Wednesday, police and family said.

Larry Penna, 61, a grandfather and vintage car enthusiast, and his wife Erika were heading east on the Grand Central Parkway when he abruptly steered their Toyota Prius to the left after clutching his chest, crashing into a median near 95th Street about 4:50 p.m., according the NYPD and family.

Penna, who ran Pool Spa Doctor in New Fairfield, Conn., was pronounced dead at New York Hospital Queens, police said.

The city's medical examiner's office planned to do an autopsy Thursday and did not immediately know Penna's cause of death, a spokeswoman said.

His son, David Penna, 38, said his father may have experienced a stroke or heart attack.

"It was very sudden, not something that we were expecting," the grieving son said.

The businessman's wife, who was in the passenger's seat at the time of the crash, was not injured, family and officials said.

Penna had just spent a week at his vacation home in Myrtle Beach, S.C., his son said.

Penna spent most of his life in New Fairfield and enjoyed figuring out how things worked, according to his website.

At 16, he began his career in pools and spas, eventually founding his own business, joining the board of the Connecticut Spa and Pool Association and teaching at the Northeast Pool and Spa Association, his website said.

Apart from pools, Penna liked winemaking, old cars, playing guitar and gardening, according to his son.

Penna, who is survived by six sons and four grandkids, hosted an annual winemaking party during which family and friends stomped on grapes for his bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot and more.

"Fourteen cases of Merlot grapes never felt so good between your toes," Penna wrote on the site.

He also was proud of his 1957 Jaguar XK-140 drop head coupe, which he purchased in 1974 for $1,000 and had been renovating for more than 20 years, he wrote.