Mark J. Coyle was a political consultant in West Virginia. Coyle started as a radio reporter, but in the early 1990s he moved into public relations.^[1] In 1996, he worked for former astronaut Jon McBride, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of West Virginia,^[2] and he later played a key role in George W. Bush's 2000 victory in that state.^[1][2] More recently he directed media relations for the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, founded by Betsy McCaughey Ross.^[3] He died October 13, 2007, at age 42, in a car crash on his way to a football game at Syracuse University where he had been a student at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.^[1][2]