Roan Vaughan

In Remembrance
April 19, 2004 - September 25, 2024

Obituary
Roan Vaughan packed an enormous amount of living-and a powerful passion for life-into his short but eventful time on earth. He passed away on September 25, 2024, while on a run near Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. The exact cause is unknown, but it appears he suffered a medical emergency.

Born in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, Roan loved New York City. He spent countless hours playing baseball and flag football in Prospect Park, pedaling his bike around Brooklyn, visiting the city's great museums, and browsing the vintage shops of Park Slope and Williamsburg. He was a lifelong Yankees fan and enjoyed nothing more than spending an afternoon in the Bronx, cheering the team on in his Mariano Rivera tee or Aaron Judge jersey.

For nearly 10 summers in a row, Roan headed north to Vermont and his beloved Camp Abnaki, where he evolved from camper to counselor to village director. Almost everything Roan knew about leadership, he learned at Camp Abnaki. To celebrate the end of his final summer there, he and a few of his fellow leaders honored the camp by getting Abnaki-themed tattoos.

Roan attended PS 107 in Park Slope for elementary school, Park Slope Collegiate and Brooklyn Prospect Charter Middle School, and Brooklyn Prospect High School, where he was a four-year varsity baseball player. When it came time for college, Roan wanted to experience something different from his urban upbringing: a large midwestern university with endless educational opportunities, an abundance of school spirit, and big-time athletics. The University of Wisconsin fit the bill perfectly. Roan adored the two-plus years he spent in Madison, where he was pursuing dual degrees in Data Science and History. He was an active member of the Wisconsin Sports Analytics Club, wrote for The Vault, a campus fashion and business blog, and worked as a lifeguard at UW pools. Roan was an adventurous traveler and had been looking forward to studying abroad in Copenhagen during the second semester of his junior year.

Roan is survived by his loving family: his mother, Melissa Schreiber; his father and stepmother, Brendan Vaughan and Renee Dale; his sister Dory and stepsiblings Griffin and Gatsby; his aunt Jennifer Schreiber and grandparents Steven and Irma Schreiber; his uncles Eric Dale and Andrew Gallagher; and his uncle Kyle Vaughan and grandmother Barbara Vaughan. He was predeceased by his grandfather Daniel Vaughan.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to two organizations that meant so much to Roan: Camp Abnaki in North Hero, Vermont, and the Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library in Cutchogue, New York.