Jim Kowalski

Twin Cities grocer Jim Kowalski was standing on the float of a small plane that had just pulled up to the shoreline of a northern Ontario lake, when he lost his balance and fell into the propeller and was killed, authorities said Friday.

Kowalski, 67, the founder of the grocery chain that bears his name, was on a fishing trip in northwestern Ontario at the time of his death with good friend Paul Bruggeman, 50, of Stillwater, the plane’s owner and pilot.

Kowalski was standing outside the 39-year-old Cessna A185F Skywagon amphibian plane near the shoreline of Dee Dee Lake, about 20 miles south of the town of Red Lake, according to police.

With the aircraft being brought to shore, Kowalski lost his footing, police and family said.