Joseph B ‘Doc’ Hartranft, Jr., the first president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and founder of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA), died on February 22 in Annapolis, Maryland. He was 86.

“Doc Hartranft was a true visionary and defender of general aviation,” said AOPA (USA) and IAOPA president Phil Boyer.

“When he helped found AOPA in 1939, the military’s concerns about impending world war threatened the freedom of civilian aviation. Hartranft’s leadership not only preserved general aviation through that dark period, but also enlisted GA in the defence of the nation.

Much of what general aviation is today is the result of Hartranft’s leadership and innovation.”

Hartranft, AOPA member number two, helped found the association in 1939 as a young college graduate. He would go on to become the association's first employee, AOPA president from 1952 to 1977, and chairman of the AOPA Board of Trustees from 1977 to 1985. He retired from the board in 1990, and was named emeritus board member in 1998.

Hartranft pioneered many of the modern association management techniques now taken for granted. He recognised that a strong national association could not function on membership dues alone and created many of the products and services that help generate revenue for the works of the association.