Feb. 13, 1961 – March 11, 2021
Karen Kovach, a longtime Children’s Hospital employee who dedicated her life to helping those with breast cancer after she was diagnosed with the disease, died March 11, 2021, in Hospice Buffalo. She was 60.
Born Karen Boeck in the Town of Tonawanda, Mrs. Kovach was a 1979 graduate of Sweet Home High School. She attended SUNY Alfred State for two years and then attended the University at Buffalo, where she earned a degree in medical technology in 1983. She worked in the Special Hemostasis Laboratory at Children’s for 29 years before joining Western New York Blood Care in 2011.
Mrs. Kovach was known for the passion she brought to her work, which never waned after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and during the numerous treatments that followed.
In October of 2006, she started an annual basket raffle fundraiser to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute. It started as a small raffle in the hallway at Children’s, but the raffle and her devotion to it both grew exponentially. The fundraiser was responsible for more than $40,000 in donations to Roswell.
Mrs. Kovach was an avid Buffalo Bills fan. She was a season ticket holder for 30 years and attended Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis, the second of the four straight appearances the team would make in the NFL championship game. She was equally passionate about flowers and had hoped to run a floral shop in her retirement years.
