Ronnie Van Zant(1948-1977)

Had a closed casket funeral. Many thought this to be because he was horribly disfigured or even decapitated during the 1977 plane crash. That is not true. Ronnie had a bruise about the size of a quarter on his temple (which was the cause of death - blunt head trauma). His wife, Judy, remembered that Ronnie once said he did not wish to have people "gawking" at his body, so she made it a closed casket funeral.