Jeanette Symons was a telecommunications and Internet entrepreneur, considered one of the wealthiest women in the United States. “But,” according to her friend and Industrious Kid co-founder, Tim Donovan, “for all of her success, she would be the first to say that her greatest achievements were her children.”

Her oldest, 10-year-old Balan, was the inspiration for Industrious Kid’s social networking site, Imbee.com. It’s a kid-friendly site that provides blogs and social posting for children ages 8 to 13 that can be monitored and controlled by parents.

“Her kids wanted to be online, but she wanted to be in control and that is where Industrious Kids came from,” Donovan said, calling her death “devastating.”

George Symons, who lives in La Jolla, Calif., said his daughter was “a wonderful person. A beautiful person.” An A-type personality whose time was devoted to her adopted children and her business interests.

Jeanette, who was 45, had lived with her mother, Linda Symons, at the Porches, a luxury residential complex in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where they home-schooled Balan and 8-year-old Jennie Symons. The family moved to Colorado about two years ago and Jeanette Symons, considered an experienced pilot, commuted by plane to California to tend her various business interests.

Jeanette and Balan Symons were in Maine last week so Balan could attend a ski racing school at Sugarloaf USA. The two were returning to Colorado when their private plane crashed just after takeoff from the Augusta State Airport.

“Her life was devoted to the children and to business,” George Symons said.

Her work consumed a lot of her time, and all of her leisure time was devoted to children,” he said.

Before adopting her children, George Symons said his daughter worked with underprivileged children in Oakland, but her real interest in children, and especially in the safe-Web imbee.com, was a direct result of her relationship with her own children.

Although she was a graduate of UCLA with a degree in systems engineering, George Symons said his daughter hadn’t always planned to become a businesswoman. But, after college, she became frustrated with the progress her employer was making in the telecommunications field and she, along with a couple of friends, decided to open their own business.

That business was Ascend Communications, which was sold to Lucent Technologies for $24 billion in 1999. That year, she co-founded Zhone Technologies Inc., which is sometimes referred to as “Zhone,” a company that designs, develops and markets communications network equipment for telephone companies and cable operators worldwide, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. From Zhone, Symons and others co-founded Industrious Kids, and the imbee.com site, both of which are headquartered in Oakland, Calif.

Symons was chief executive Officer of Industrious Kids.

George Symons said there a memorial service would be held some time soon in California.