Richard
died on October 22nd at age 36 in his parents' home in Coram, NY. From
the day in July, 1996 when he was first diagnosed with a brain tumor,
he and his family fought a monumental struggle for his survival. It
was Richard's wish that after his death, his family and friends carry
on the struggle against - and propagate the awareness of - the
devastating effect of primary brain tumors, which are the second
leading cause of cancer death in children under 15 and young adults up
to age 34.Richard graduated in 1979 from North Shore High School and a year later was crowned as the NY State Collegiate Tennis Champion. From there, he went on to play professional tennis all over the world and eventually settled into a business career in Europe, embracing their culture and becoming fluent in German and French. He graduated from Webster University in Vienna, Austria with an MBA and worked for Hewlett-Packard and Oracle Corporation. He was living in Geneva, Switzerland when he was first diagnosed with brain cancer and, as Richard put it, "plunged suddenly into a terrifying dark cave".
He leaves behind a 5 year-old
daughter, Talia. Richard is forever loved by his parents, Lloyd and
Caryl Karpf and by his entire family including Ilene and Bill Graney,
Lynn and Dennis Zawie and Mindy Wellner.
Brain tumor research is severely under funded and it is for this reason that any donations are requested to be sent to either:
The Healing Exchange BRAIN TRUST
Inc.
P.O. Box 743
Cambridge, MA 02142-006
(checks payable to T.H.E. BRAIN TRUST, Inc.)
or
Musella
Foundation for Brain Tumor Research & Information
1100 Peninsula Road
Hewlett NY 11557
(checks payable to The Musella Foundation)
