- ADVERTISEMENT - A community leader involved with numerous causes and groups across Long Beach, Bixby was, perhaps, most memorably known as a cycling advocate involved in everything from creating the city’s Bicycle Master Plan, helping start the Long Beach Bike Festival, and championing the city’s national reputation as a bike-friendly city. Friends and family gather during a memorial in Belmont Shore Tuesday evening, marking the 10th anniversary of a plane crash that killed five people. Photo by Stephen Carr. On March 16, 2011, Bixby and four others—Thomas Dean, Jeffrey Berger, Bruce Krall and Kenneth Cruz—perished aboard a private plane that crashed shortly after takeoff at Long Beach Airport. A sixth passenger, Mike Jensen, Bixby’s colleague, survived with serious injuries.