Chris Cline, a West Virginia native who built a coal empire and a reputation for charitable giving, has died in a helicopter crash.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that Cline, who grew up in Beckley, was 60. He would have had his 61st birthday on Friday.

Multiple sources reported his death. The Register-Herald newspaper in Beckley was among the first.

The helicopter was en route to Fort Lauderdale from the Bahamas, when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, Cline’s friends in Beckley told the newspaper.

Gov. Jim Justice, whose family has its own coal mining businesses, paid tribute. “Chris built an empire and on every occasion was always there to give,” the governor stated. “What a wonderful, loving and giving man.”

Cline, who few up in a West Virginia coal mining family, dropped out of Marshall University at 22 to enter the coal industry.

He formed his energy development group, the Cline Group, in 1990. It developed and operated some of the most productive underground coal mines in the country.

In 2003, the Cline Group sold its mature mining and processing concerns in Appalachia to focus on new opportunities in the Illinois Basin.

Anticipating renewed interest in high sulfur, high Btu coal, Foresight Energy LLC was formed in 2006.

By 2010, an article in Bloomberg called him the “New King Coal.”

“As far as the social acceptability of coal, I like to think I’m part of supplying the cheapest energy in America,” he said in the article.

Cline’s company had more than three billion tons of coal reserves across Illinois and the Northern Appalachians.

In 2011, he donated $5 million from his Cline Family Foundation to the School of Medicine and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics of the West Virginia University.

Later that year, he also donated $5 million to Marshall University for research on sports medicine.

On June 23, 2014, Foresight Energy LP completed an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

Starting in April, 2015, Murray Energy acquired a economic interest in Foresight. After that, Cline was focusing on coal opportunities in Canada.

Cline’s wealth also led to a celebrity lifestyle.

He owned the 205-foot luxury yacht Mine Games, with five staterooms and its own submarine. He also had a 33,413-square-foot mansion in North Palm Beach, Florida.