Ronald Samuel Kareken

Ronald (Ron) Samuel Kareken was born December 15, 1935 in Buffalo, NY, to Frances and John Kareken. His mother was born Frances Mouradian in Canada, while John was born Hovhannes Aloyan in Keghi, a then-Armenian enclave of Turkey. A survivor of the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th Century, John eventually settled the family in Canton, IL, where Ron grew up with his grandmother Aghvany, and his sister Sylvia (today a retired teacher). When he was fifteen, the family welcomed a brother, also named John Kareken (today an editor).

Graduating from Canton High School in 1952, Ron enrolled in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an ROTC scholarship student in Engineering, and after graduating in 1958 he served in the United States Navy for three years. Upon leaving the Navy, he attended law school at George Washington University, where he received his JD. Soon thereafter he was recruited by the Eastman Kodak company in Rochester, NY.

While still in the Navy, Ron met and fell in love with Lynne Marcus, a former principal ballerina with a number of ballet companies in the New York, Norfolk, and DC areas. She would become Lynne Kareken and together they settled in Rochester, where he would earn his MBA at the University of Rochester while working at Eastman Kodak. Together, Ron and Lynne raised two children, David Kareken, today head of neuropsychology in neurology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and Jeremy Kareken, today a playwright residing in Baltimore and New York.

Retiring from Eastman Kodak as an assistant general counsel, Ron practiced law at a number of firms in the Rochester metropolitan area. Having a strong sense of service, Ron was also the founding chairman of the Patent and Trademark Committee of the New York State Bar Association, a past President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Trademark Association (now the International Trademark Association), and a past member of the Board of Governors of the Brand Names Education Foundation. For six years, he chaired the Public Advisory Committee for Trademark Affairs for the U.S. Department of Commerce. As President of the U.S. Trademark Association, he worked with Congress in passing the 1988 Trademark Law Revision Act. He also volunteered his services to Volunteers of America, Inc., one of the nation's largest human service organizations.

Ron was loved and admired by a great many friends and colleagues. He is survived by his brother, sister, two sons, and four grandchildren, all of whom love and miss him deeply.