Obituary of Kevin Warren Hanft

Kevin Warren Hanft

March 9, 1957 - August 26, 2026

Kevin Warren Hanft died after a short, but painful battle with acute myeloid leukemia, leaving behind a life defined by family, friendship, faith, curiosity, humor, and an extraordinary eagerness to participate fully in the world around him.

At the center of that life was Donna, his Rutgers sweetheart and the love of his life. Together they built a marriage rooted in friendship, partnership, and shared adventure. Their circle of friends grew over decades through church, their children’s schools, golf, pickleball, travel, and countless other parts of their lives. They also had a partnership that was distinctly their own: Kevin made the soups and Donna mowed the lawn, because that was how each of them liked it.

Travel was part of their life together from the beginning. They honeymooned in Grindelwald, Switzerland, and continued exploring the world throughout their marriage. From dune buggies and camels on the Arabian peninsula, petting koalas in Australia, snorkeling in the Maldives, raising a liter at the Oktoberfest, sailing through the BVIs, or mushing behind a dog sleigh on Alaskan Glaciers; Kevin was always planning adventures. Whether crossing an ocean or simply spending time at home or in Hampton Bays, Kevin and Donna made a deliberate effort to build a life filled with experiences, friendships, and time together.

That same intentionality defined Kevin as a father to Jeffrey and Lauren. He was present for the big and small: preschool drop-offs at Treehouse, field hockey and lacrosse games, from early morning ice hockey practices to winter evening slalom races. He remained a source of advice, support, humor, and companionship to Lauren and Jeff through the end.

Kevin was particularly proud that his family did not simply love one another but genuinely liked being together. Some of their happiest memories came through skiing, from the slopes of Chamonix, France, out West, or weekends at Camelback in the Poconos, staying in a trailer without running water. The accommodations mattered less than the people surrounding him.

In recent years, Kevin found enormous joy in being Grandpa to Bronson, Prescott, and Spencer. He was an active and playful grandfather who got down on the floor with them, carried them around, took them on adventures, including trips to the beach, Disney World, and Park City where he served as both grandfather and ski instructor. They will grow up knowing how deeply they were loved by their Grandpa. They were the loves of his life.

Kevin made friends nearly everywhere he went. He was well read, intellectually curious, and capable of engaging with people across an unusually wide range of interests. He could talk football, politics, cooking, history, art, British cars, or theater, and he remained interested in learning throughout his life. As a proud Scarlet Knight, he died while enrolled as a continuing ed Art Student at Rutgers.

To know Kevin was to know his quirky sense of humor and dry wit. Being teased by Kevin was often its’ own form of affection. Visits with Donna’s parents always ended in laughs, for days following Kevin’s departure, after (seemingly always) Martha would discover the large plastic spider he left for them to find in jacket pockets, between frozen vegetables, or in the laundry basket.

That ability to connect with people remained with him during his illness. While undergoing treatment at Mount Sinai, Kevin formed relationships with the nurses and physicians caring for him. They came to know the same stoicism, intelligence and humor his family and friends had known for years. When it became clear that the clinical trials were not working and Kevin chose to spend his final days in New Jersey, the staff of the blood cancer unit gathered to send him off, an impressive testament to the impact he had on the people around him.

Kevin’s Christian faith was an essential part of his life and was expressed most clearly through how he treated other people. He believed in kindness, tolerance, service, and seeing the worth in others. He served on church committees, mentored confirmation students, grilled hot dogs for Charter Day, and was a familiar presence selling Christmas trees in December. For Kevin, faith was a performance of love rather than something to simply profess.

He approached recreation with similar enthusiasm. Skiing remained one of his great passions, shared across generations with Donna, their children, grandchildren, parents, and friends. He became an enthusiastic pickleball player, known for aggressive play paired with genuine sportsmanship. Bicycling was another passion, whether riding toward a beach cocktail in Hampton Bays or traveling by bike through Bordeaux, Hungary, Greece, Italy, and Croatia with friends.

Kevin also found ways to make his professional life part of the larger adventure. His career included sports marketing roles with AT&T, Lucent, Avaya, and IEEE, and took him to World Cups in Germany, Korea and Japan and Olympic Games in Atlanta, Beijing, and Nagano. Those opportunities had him meet Olympic hockey gold medalists and saw him whizzing down the bobsleigh track and allowed him to experience places he had long wanted to see. During the 2006 World Cup, Jeffrey joined him in Germany for matches in Frankfurt and Munich, once again Kevin had a knack for turning work into an experience shared with family.

Kevin still had so much he intended to do. He looked forward to more time driving his Triumph TR6 through Hampton Bays, cycling along Long Island, checking off an impressive travel bucket list with Donna, family, and friends, and continuing to teach his grandchildren to ski. His family intends to carry those plans forward: trips with the grandkids to Park City, cruising the Nile with friends, caring for the things he loved, and continuing the traditions he created.

That is perhaps the most fitting measure of Kevin’s life. He made room for the people and experiences that mattered to him, and in doing so created a life others will continue to inhabit long after his death.

May he rest peacefully in God’s embrace, knowing just how deeply he was loved.

Kevin is predeceased by his parents, Warren and Marion Hanft. Kevin is survived by his wife, Donna Richardson Hanft; his brother, Wayne Hanft; his mother-in-law, Martha Richardson, his son, Jeffrey Hanft; his daughter and son-in-law, Lauren and Matt Smith; and his grandchildren, Bronson, Prescott, and Spencer Smith.

A celebration of Kevin’s life will take place on September 26^th, at 11am at Bishop Janes United Methodist Church, 22 S. Finley Ave in Basking Ridge, NJ. A memorial gathering at the church will precede the service at 9:30am.

For those wishing to make a donation in Kevin’s honor please consider these:

Rutgers University Leukemia/Lymphoma Research Support Fund  https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/cinj-leukemia-lymphoma-research/14907.html

Bishop Janes United Methodist Church

https://secure.myvanco.com/YJG3/campaign/C-16E57