David Karnes, briefly a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, longtime community leader and creator of the Liz’s Legacy cancer research fund, died of cancer Oct. 25 at age 71.
Though he worked behind the scenes to advance several initiatives as a longtime UNMC advocate, Sen. Karnes was best known on the UNMC campus for the establishment of the Liz’s Legacy cancer research fund. It was named for his first wife, Liz, a beloved Omaha community leader who fought cancer for 12 years.
Sen. Karnes also served on the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center Board of Advisors.
Liz Karnes was treated at the med center, and volunteered her time visiting fellow patients. The establishment of the fund in her name was marked by a public event and the release of butterflies.
David Karnes was appointed by Gov. Kay Orr to fill the U.S. Senate term of Ed Zorinsky, upon Sen. Zorinsky’s death in 1987. Sen. Karnes then lost the subsequent election to Bob Kerrey, and never sought office again.
“He stepped up to fill public office, when called upon,” said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, “but was just as happy to go back to private life.”
But even as a private citizen, Sen. Karnes continued to work on behalf of Nebraska, Omaha and UNMC. Though he’d served in government a short time, he knew how it worked, and was a trusted resource for many.
“Dave was constantly on the go and changing gears from one call to the next,” said Tom Thompson, senior director of development at the University of Nebraska Foundation.
“He was always generous with his counsel,” Dr. Gold said. “And we were always grateful for it.
“Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”
“Everybody will recognize his devotion to his family,” said Kenneth Cowan, MD, PhD, director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, “his daughters, his second wife, Kris, his grandchildren.”
Sen. Karnes also co-founded Kicks for a Cure weekend, with Steve and Amy Lindsay, to benefit Liz’s Legacy. Liz had loved to watch their daughters play soccer. To date, Kicks for a Cure has raised $3.4 million for research at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and the Hereditary Cancer Center at Creighton University.
It’s heartbreaking, Dr. Cowan said, that a man who had lost a loved one to cancer, who had fought so hard against it, was felled by the same disease.
“He’ll be missed by everybody who had the fortune to know him,” Dr. Cowan said.
My deepest condolences to the family.