In Memoriam

As we were about to go to press on this issue of Knoebel News, the school suffered a huge, unbelievably surprising loss. Eric Lane, who was the Senior Director of Operations for Fritz Knoebel Events—our meeting and event business, died suddenly on August 13. Eric oversaw operations beginning with the opening of our fabulous building, the Joy Burns Center, back in 2006. In addition to his management role, Eric taught part-time in the program. As a result, he touched the lives of nearly all of our students over the last decade. Eric is survived by his wife Holly and son Gavin.

Eric’s contributions to the school were many. His leadership made it possible for Fritz Knoebel Events to grow from an operation that did a little over $500K in top line revenue its first year to having exceeded $1.1M each of the last four years. Over the last decade Eric’s team grew the quality of our product and service and provided great learning experiences for the students working in the operation.

Our café concept, Beans, which although student-managed reported up through Eric, didn’t exist 10 years ago, grew to two units this past spring and we will add a third unit this fall. Eric led his team with the philosophy that Fritz Knoebel Events should not be a reflection of how industry operates. Rather, it should teach students what is possible. The students who had the good fortune to work closely with Eric in our operations learned so much from him.

The students in Eric’s food and beverage (F&B) classes were equally fortunate. They had the opportunity to learn from someone who was terrifically passionate about education, teaching and learning. Eric taught a variety of F&B courses and was always working to improve them. He never relied only on his past experience to do so—Eric was constantly learning himself. In addition to the PhD he earned in the Morgridge College of Education in 2016, Eric earned several wine/beverage certifications over the last several years.

All of us who worked or studied with Eric will remember him fondly. We will keep his memory alive by sharing the Eric stories that made us laugh when they occurred and when we retold them while he was alive. Eric appreciated the humor we saw in the things he did and said and would want us to preserve his memory by retelling them now and in the future.

For those who wish to help us remember and memorialize Eric, we ask that you direct donations in his memory to our Fund for Beverage Education. For those who were students of Eric’s, Nick Phelps has agreed to extend his pledge to match gifts made by young alumni to gifts made to this fund in Eric’s memory. I hope you will join my colleagues and me by giving generously and extending Eric’s legacy.

For more information on how to give, contact Carole Bellfi at carole.bellfi@du.edu.