Mingma Norbu Sherpa, 50; World Wildlife Fund Director for Himalayas

Mingma Norbu Sherpa, 50, managing director of the World Wildlife Fund in the eastern Himalayas, died Sept. 23 in a helicopter crash in Nepal.

He had been a resident of Falls Church, Va., but spent most of each year in the eastern Himalaya region.

The accident occurred near the India border, about a mile from Ghunsa village, according to the World Wildlife Fund website.

Seven officials with the fund were among those on board. A search team found no survivors.

Born in the village of Khunde, in Nepal’s Mt. Everest region, Sherpa was educated at a school established by Sir Edmund Hillary, the first Westerner to climb Everest. With further support from the Hillary Foundation, Sherpa earned a diploma in parks and recreation at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

He served as warden of Sagarmatha National Park, where Mt. Everest is located, before he joined the World Wildlife Fund and became director of its Nepal, Bhutan and Himalayan program.

Sherpa moved to the U.S. in 1998 and worked out of the fund’s office in Washington, D.C., but continued to spend most of his time in the Himalayan region that he supervised.

He managed several national parks there during his career and established education programs for residents of the Himalayas. He shared Hillary’s belief that the protection of the environment and its natural resources requires the support and involvement of the local people.