A private plane that crashed in upstate New York over the weekend was carrying a close-knit family of physicians and distinguished recent student-athletes, bound for a trip to the Catskills for a birthday celebration and the Passover holiday.
The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B went down shortly after noon Saturday in a muddy field in Copake, New York, near the Massachusetts line, killing all six people aboard, according to authorities and a family member who spoke to The Associated Press.
Among the victims were Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named the 2022 NCAA woman of the year; her father, a neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Groff; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist and Karenna Groff's boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate, according to James' father, John Santoro.
''They were a wonderful family,'' Santoro told AP. ''The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity. We're all personally devastated.''
Santoro said his son first met Groff as a freshman studying at MIT. Groff, who grew up in Weston, Massachusetts, was an All-American soccer player studying biomedical engineering. Santoro, a math major from New Jersey, played lacrosse for the school.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Groff co-founded openPPE, helping to create a new design of masks for essential workers. In 2023, she received the prestigious NCAA woman of the year award for the previous year for her on- and off-field accomplishments.
''Really, this recognition is a testament to my MIT women's soccer family and all of the guidance, support, and friendship they have provided for me over the years,'' she said in an interview at the time.
After graduating, Santoro and Groff moved to Manhattan, where Groff enrolled in medical school at New York University and Santoro worked as an investment associate for Silver Point, a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut.
