Co-founder of Clayton housing franchise dies in copter crash in Knoxville

One half of a housing manufacturing giant in the Southeast has died in a helicopter crash in East Tennessee.

Local and company officials have confirmed that the body of Joe Clayton was recovered Monday evening hours after the copter went down in Four Loudoun Lake near Knoxville.

Joe was a co-founder of the Clayton Homes franchise in the late 1960s along with his brother Jim who was onboard the craft and survived along with two others.

The cause of the crash is now under investigation.

(PHOTO: SuperTalk Archives)