Mike Crow, one of the Coos County Airport District's five board members, has resigned.

At its meeting Thursday morning in North Bend, the district's board of directors read a letter, dated Jan. 17, in which Crow announced his departure. He cited the need to spend more time tending to his son, Ryan, who has been hospitalized since he was severely injured in a Sept. 22, 2004, car accident in Eugene.

"It is with regret that I must resign from the board," he wrote. "My desire and need to assist with my son's continuing medical care has helped me to come to this decision. It has become clear that his needs will be paramount and continue for the foreseeable future."

The remaining board members instructed the Airport District to begin accepting inquiries from county residents interested in taking Crow's position. No timetable for selecting a new member was announced.

The accident was the second crisis to strike the Coos Bay architect's family and inner circle in less than two years. In April 2003, a plane crash in the mountains near Grants Pass killed his father Dick Crow, the pilot, as well as Steve Clay, his partner in the Crow/Clay Associates firm.