Mike Knapp

April 3, 2002

Mike was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his life in Short Hills and Morristown, New Jersey. He commuted into the city for a time, becoming a general partner in the New York investment firm, Stuart Brothers. Later, he worked for D.G. Meyer & Co., an investment firm located in New Jersey, retiring as its executive vice president in 1988.

East Coast roots notwithstanding, Mike loved Nevada and we moved to Carson City in August, 2000. Unfortunately, our stay was short-lived as Mike suffered a recurrence of prostate cancer and we returned to New Jersey for his medical treatment in May, 2001. At that time, we made out new wills and although we both opted for cremation, Mike wanted his ashes scattered near Lake Tahoe in the Carson Valley, part of the Sierras. I preferred the Caribbean.

In August, 2002, several months after Mike’s death, our son Andy and I met Mike’s favorite cousin Nancy, from the Bay Area, in Carson, where a pilot friend of ours prepped us for the scatter. All went well; however, since then, the weather in that part of the country has been horrific in the winter and spring. I told Nancy to blame Mike for the horrid weather they have been experiencing in the Bay Area day after day of rain with serious snows in the Sierras. What can I tell you Mike was strong-willed!

One of the last things Mike ever said to me was that he would never see his grandchildren. Little did he know that starting in October, 2004, Allison and Chris Foer would present the family with its first grandchild, Sydney Jeanne; in February, 2005, Andy and Britt gave birth to Spencer Charles and later that year, Sydney had a little sister, Mia Grace in November; Andy and Britt had Ella Rue on Halloween 2007; and finally, numbers five and six, Gustav Albert and Oskar Andrew Knapp were born on June 11, 2010. This wonderful half dozen grands have been the delights of my life and they are all aware of PopPop Mike. I know he is watching over them with great joy.

~ Ellen Knapp