GRAND RIVERS, KY — Charles “Chuck” Poettker — founder, chairman and CEO of Poettker Construction Company based in Breese — drowned Saturday in a Kentucky Lake.

According to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, Poettker, 69, of O’Fallon, Illinois, disappeared in Kentucky Lake in Trigg County near Grand Rivers at about 3 p.m. Saturday after jumping into the water from the rear swim platform of a boat anchored at the time. Poettker reportedly was not wearing a life jacket.

His body was recovered at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday after agencies from three counties responded to the lake.

An autopsy is planned at the Western Kentucky Regional Medical Examiner’s Office in Madisonville, Kentucky.

Poettker was a US Army veteran who earned the Bronze Star for his heroic service of recovery of the bodies of a pilot and co-pilot of a downed helicopter in Laos during the Vietnam War.

He founded Poettker Construction about 41 years ago. The company now has about 200 employees working in 26 states.

Funeral arrangements are pending with Moss Funeral Home in Breese.