Eric Kumpf loved his alma mater, the University of Rhode Island. Even though he graduated in 1994, in many ways his heart never left. He moved away to pursue a successful career in investment banking in the big city and lived in Hoboken, but Kumpf was active in recruiting new students in the New Jersey area and was one of school’s most active and dedicated alumni.
Tragically for Kumpf, 30, life was cut short when he was one of a dozen young people who died in a porch collapse in Chicago on Sunday, June 29. He was standing along with the others on the top floor back porch of an apartment building when the floor of the porch gave way.
Now, the University of Rhode Island will name the Student Alumni Association office in the new Alumni Center, which is currently under construction, after Kumpf.
The three-story, 21,000-square-foot facility will offer meeting and reception space for visiting URI alumni and friends, and it will provide office space for the 60 employees in the URI Division of University Advancement.
Kumpf graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1994 with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in political science. While a student there, he was actively involved in the Student Alumni Association, was an orientation leader, a WRIU color commentator for the URI Rams football and basketball teams, and a student manager for the URI basketball team in 1992-1993.
He worked as an admissions assistant during the 1992-’93 school year and served as president of the Student Alumni Association in 1993 and 1994. Following graduation, He pursued a career in banking and rose to associate director and head of the Domestic Stock Loan Department of Barclay’s Capital in New York City.
He also acted as a URI admissions officer, recruiting heavily in New Jersey. He soon became the youngest alumni to pledge at leadership level toward the completion of the Convocation Center Campaign. Kumpf was also a leadership donor to the university’s annual fund.
“Eric maintained strong ties with the university and will always be remembered as a committed student and an easygoing, warm, fun-loving person,” said Michele Nota, executive director, URI Office of Alumni Relations. “We thought that naming the Student Alumni Association Office in his honor would be a fitting way to memorialize an extraordinary young man. Since the new center is being designed as a place where we can welcome our alumni home and celebrate their achievements, Eric will always be a part of that tribute.”
Engaged to be married
Kumpf was in Chicago on a business trip for Barclays Capital at the time of the collapse. The son of a New Jersey Superior Court judge, he was to be married on Sept. 27 to Alexis Brady, 29.
According to friends of Brady and Kumpf, for two years, they had been planning a fairytale wedding in Newport, R.I.
Their relationship had begun over 15 years ago when they were both students at Bernards High School in Bernardsville, N.J. They were great friends and would often ride to school together. However, it was not until years after their college graduations, that in 1998, they confessed their deep affection for one another. Three years later, Kumpf and Brady flew to Paris and proposed to her under the willows on the Seine River.
Friends and family have decided to spend Sept. 27 in Eric’s true spirit by turning tragedy into tribute. His family and friends will honor his memory by hosting a memorial dinner and silent auction to benefit the completion of the University of Rhode Island Student Alumni Association Office named in his honor. The invitation-only event will be held in Far Hills, N.J.
Those interested in making donations to the Eric Kumpf Memorial Fund can write a check to the University of Rhode Island Alumni Association Eric Kumpf Fund, U.R.I. Alumni Relations Office, 12 Davis Hall, 10 Lippett Road, Kingston, RI, 02881.
Future plans to honor Eric’s memory include the establishment of an endowment fund to send a local student to the University of Rhode Island.