Gunther graduated in 2023 from the Seneca Polytechnic aviation program, based at Peterborough Regional Airport. Biro said Gunther had remained in touch, after he started working for Air Canada.

Biro said Gunther was married — his wife’s name is Hannah. The two of them dropped into the roastery a little over two weeks ago, he said, when they were last in Peterborough.

“I hadn’t seen him for a little bit,” Biro said. “So it was nice that we were catching up … He was just talking about how he actually wished that he had been getting more hours. You know, he was trying to achieve the captain status … he was working toward that.”

Gunther died earlier this week when the plane he was co-piloting with Captain Antoine Forest, of Quebec, collided with a fire truck after landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The truck had been crossing the tarmac on its way to an emergency. The cockpit of the plane was sheared off in the collision.

Both Gunther and Forest were killed.

When a friend dies so suddenly, Biro said on Wednesday, “you’re just in a state of shock. But our first impulse was, ‘How can we do something for Mackenzie?’”

Gunther had been particular about his coffee — he liked Haitian beans, Biro said, and his favourite drink was cold brew.

So on Wednesday, Biro and his wife — roastery co-owner Bonnie Fraser — offered a free cold-brew Haitian coffee to anyone who wanted to honour Gunther. People were also invited to sign a sympathy card that Biro plans to send to Hannah.

As soon as the roastery opened on Wednesday, a steady stream of people arrived. Many tried the cold brew. Biro was calling the drink “The Mackenzie.”

Some Seneca staff members were among those who’d gathered at the roastery, but declined to comment.

J.P. Pawliw, another loyal coffee customer, said he would often run into Gunther at Rapids End.

“It’s a very friendly place. You get to know the people who you see frequently,” Pawliw said.

He and Gunther would chat about coffee and about life, said Pawliw, an engineer and the owner of the solar panel company Generation Solar in Peterborough.

“You know, you get your (pilot’s) licence and then you get a job in the minor leagues. And then you work your way up through that, and then hopefully get a job in the majors — and that’s what he was doing,” Pawliw said.

For Gunther, working for Air Canada “was exactly what he wanted to do,” Pawliw said.

The plan had been to spend a few early-career years “as a second seat in an airplane,” he said, “and then graduate to the first seat.”

“Then after a while, eventually his goal was to get a job with Air Canada, and flying large jets,” Pawliw said.

Biro said Gunther had frequented his roastery through 2022 and 2023. He said that over many visits, the two had developed “a sincere friendship.”

“When you start to hang out with someone week after week, and have coffee and talk about life and school and family, it just turns into something more, I guess,” Biro said.

“When he moved away, he was just that guy that would still order coffee faithfully and ask if he could pick it up when he’s coming through town,” Biro said. “And he maintained a lot of relationships and friendships here in Peterborough.”

“Grief is a weird thing to process,” Biro continued. “So this is one small way we could kind of bring people together and hopefully, ultimately, just give Mackenzie’s family just a little something to say, ‘Thank you that you shared his life with us, and we value you.’”

“I just miss him,” Biro said. “I will miss him for sure.”