NEW YORK -- Tuesday marks 25 years since John F. Kennedy Jr., the only son of President John F. Kennedy, died in a plane crash off the coast of Massachusetts. 

Kennedy Jr. was piloting the small plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard on July 16, 1999. His wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette were also on board and died in the crash. 

He was 38.   

Tragic flight ended 3 lives

As CBS News reported, the plane left Essex County Airport in Fairfield Township, New Jersey, at around 8:38 p.m. that evening. It was last seen on radar about an hour later, some 17 miles from the Martha's Vineyard airport, before it disappeared.

An emergency declaration was never made. 

Five days later, the plane's wreckage and remains of the three people on board were found at the bottom of the ocean less than 10 miles off the coast. 

An investigation by the NTSB blamed "the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was the result of spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze and the dark night." 

JFK Jr. grew up before the eyes of the world 

John F. Kennedy Jr. was born on Nov. 25, 1960, two weeks after his father won the 1960 presidential election. 

The image of 3-year-old "John John," as he was affectionately known, saluting his father's casket became an iconic moment. 

Kennedy went on to earn a degree from New York University School of Law, and later worked in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. 

He lived his life in the public eye, and was People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1988. He was also the subject of speculation about whether he'd ever run for office himself. 

In 1995, he co-founded "George" magazine — named after our nation's first president — which ceased publication in 2001. 

In 2000, a year after his death, the CUNY School of Professional Studies established the John F. Kennedy, Jr. Institute for Worker Education. 

If he had lived, JFK Jr. would now be 64 years old. 

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• John F. Kennedy

Mark Prussin is a digital producer at CBS New York. He covers breaking news, sports, politics and trending stories in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Mark joined the CBS New York team in 2019.