Erik Michael Kemp

Erik Michael Kemp, age 42, tragically passed away on the 21st of January due to cardiac arrest caused by cardiac arrhythmia. Erik quietly battled chronic atrial fibrillation for almost fifteen years. Now, in the afterlife, he is free from this challenging illness.

Erik was born in 1980 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. He moved to Virginia when he was almost four years old where his father worked at the Pentagon. When he was in the fifth grade, his family moved to Minot Air Force Base in Minot, North Dakota where his father was in charge of fifty nuclear missiles. The family returned to Alexandria, VA where Erik finished his middle and high school years and went on to pursue his Bachelor Degree at James Madison University. Erik was very passionate about sports in high school. He was Most Valuable Player in both football and lacrosse and was the first student at Hayfield High School to receive the Scholar Athlete Award, recognizing his excellence in both athletics and academics. An early challenge came when Erik was 15 years old, when his father died at age 44 from heart disease. Erik gathered a strength that many admired to continue this love of sports and academics and move forward to college at James Madison University.

Erik and Lindsay met at JMU’s Homecoming in 2003. It was love and connection at first sight. They were married on September 30th, 2007 and embarked on an unforgettable adventure to Denver, Colorado where they planted their roots for 12 years. Erik received his Master’s Degree in Telecommunications at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2011 and went on to spend most of his career with NetApp in Boulder and in North Carolina. He also worked a short time for Lenovo and was extremely grateful for the people he met there and the learning he gleaned from the company. Erik and Lindsay celebrated the births of their two amazing, beautiful children, Emory and Ellie in 2013 and 2018, respectively. They decided to return to the East Coast in 2020 and settled in Wake Forest. First and foremost, he was a loving, loyal, and devoted husband and father. The one and only thing Erik lived for was his family.

Erik was preceded in death by his father Michael Kemp; his maternal grandparents, Lorena and Will Curtis; and his paternal grandparents, Billee and James Kemp. Erik is survived by his devoted wife, Lindsay and his two children Emory (9) and Ellie (4); his mother, Jennifer Kemp; and sister, Kristen Kemp. He is also survived by his mother and father-in-law, Jack and Suzanne Bartles; sister-in-law, Kim Hurst; and father and stepmother-in-law, Steve and Belinda Duke.

A memorial service will be held on February 25th at 1:00pm at The Corner and Meeting House of Wake Forest, 102 North Ave., Wake Forest, NC 27587

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Research Division. Please use the provided link or call 216-448-1105. https://tinyurl.com/ErikKempDonation

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.brownwynneeastmillbrook.com for the Kemp family.