Baruch Dayan HaEmet – Karen Schad z”l

Karyn Jo Schad passed away peacefully, surrounded in love, at her home on Friday, September 25, 2026, she was 76.

Karyn, born March 6, 1950 in Alhambra, California to George and Doris Schwartz, z”l, shared a remarkable 55-year marriage with her devoted husband, Richard, whom she wed on July 10th, 1971. They shared a wonderful life of love, adventure, with an endless amount of dog hair.

Karyn and Richard moved to Colorado in 1975, where they created lifelong friendships and rooted their family in the Boulder Jewish Community. As a founding member of Bonai Shalom, Karyn was actively involved with many organizations within the Jewish Community. Unfortunately, due to declining health, in the late 1990’s Karyn had to begin to limit her volunteering.

In 1996 Karyn was the 200th woman in the world diagnosed with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), an incurable lung disease. After being on the transplant list in Colorado with no success, Karyn made the difficult decision to move temporarily across the country, to North Carolina, in search of hope and lungs. After several months of exercise and 19 days on a transplant list, Duke Hospital was able to provide Karyn with an amazing gift from a donor. On May, 17th, 2009 Karyn received her double lung transplant, and the second stage of her life began. In Karyn’s post-transplant years, she spent her time traveling, seeing the world, watching her grandkids play sports, and volunteering.

Karyn was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Randy. Karyn is survived by her loving husband, Richard, her daughter Carly Berlin (Yochai), her son Devon Schad (Kelli), and her beloved grandchildren Avah, Noah, Eliana and Ayla.

The Schad Family would like to give a special thank you to Karyn’s lung donor. Karyn was given a remarkable 17 years with her new lungs. Only about 10%, or 1 in 7 recipients, of a double lung transplant survive that long. Because of this selfless and gracious gift, our family was given an incredible amount of borrowed time (as we liked to call it) with our beloved Karyn. Karyn was able to give lots of extra love to her husband, family, friends and grandchildren, whom she cherished more than anything. So many wonderful memories are in our hearts forever, because of you.

Karyn requested fun, bright colors be worn for the funeral and Shiva. Karyn did not want her passing to be a somber time, but a happy celebration of the life she lived to the fullest.

The funeral service will be graveside at Mountain View Memorial Park at 11am, Tuesday, September 29, 2026 – 3016 Kalmia Ave, Boulder, CO 80301

A public Shiva will be held at the home of Devon and Kelli Schad
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 6pm-7:30pm
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 6pm-7:30pm
17082 Lipan St, Broomfield, CO 80023

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the following organizations:

The LAM Foundation
Trailwinds Hospice of Boulder
Chabad of Broomfield, Rabbi Yossi Rapport