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Boston Globe
14-04-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
What we know about the six victims who died in a N.Y. plane crash
Here's what we know about the victims. Advertisement Karenna Groff To those who knew her, Karenna J. Groff was a 'dynamo.' While starting for MIT's soccer team for four years, Groff also worked with Dr. Mustafa Sahin at Boston Children's Hospital, searching for a genetic understanding — and possible cures — for epilepsy. In her fifth year at the lab, Groff, who grew up in Weston, earned her master's degree and completed her dissertation. Based on her dissertation, Advertisement 'She was someone that was brilliant as a student,' Sahin said. 'She had this incredible work ethic of testing and retesting things until she convinced herself of the validity of her results. So if you got some data from her you knew it was something could count on … She had a real passion for scientific inquiry so it was easy to see the potential that she had.' Groff was chosen as the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year, the highest honor from the college athletic association for her on-field and off-field career at MIT. She followed her academic successes at MIT with admission to New York University Medical School's highly selective program for accelerated study in neuroscience. Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca, who worked with her Groff's father, Dr. Michael Groff, at Mass General Brigham, said the NYU program pays for medical school and guarantees training as a resident if the student can handle the academic challenge. Karenna Groff had succeeded once again and was scheduled to begin residency in neurosurgery — the same medical field as her father — this summer, he said. 'She was a dynamo,' said Chiocca, who got to know Karenna while she attended Weston High School and spent time with his children. 'She was always on the go …. It just came natural to her. [Her father] knew that she was going to go places. … She wanted to be a neurosurgeon like her dad.' Michael Groff Michael W. Groff was at ease in the operating room and when operating the controls of planes, according to relatives, a colleague, and federal records. The statement said Groff was an experienced pilot who fell in love with flying after his father taught him how when he was 16. Advertisement It appears Groff was piloting the Mitsubishi twin engine aircraft when it crashed in rural New York State on Saturday, according to a profile of the pilot outlined by the NTSB on Sunday. 'He was a great pilot. I mean, I've been on planes with him,' said Chiocca. 'He started flying when he was a teenager that flew planes. His dad flew planes ... I just can't imagine that he could even get into a crash.' Chiocca also knew Groff in the operating room. Chiocca is chair of neurosurgery at Mass General Brigham where Groff was vice chair until last summer. They started working together in 2011, he said. 'We like to say he was a doctor's doctor,' Chiocca said. 'Just a consummate, consummate technical surgeon." Groff wanted to take on a leadership role and last summer joined Rochester Regional Health as executive medical director of neurosciences in the nine-hospital organization. He was also studying for an executive MBA at MIT's Sloan School of Management, the university said. He graduated in 1993 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where met Dr. Jyot Saini, who became his wife and the mother of their three children. She was known as Joy. Groff underwent further training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York in neurological surgery and then at the Medical School of Wisconsin, according to the Board of Registration in Medicine. Groff was also a member of a national medical group for neuroscience, which allowed him to develop friendships across his field. 'He was very well thought of, highly regarded by people around the country,' Chiocca said. Advertisement Chiocca said he met all of the Groff family over the years. 'Just a really nice guy, great family man,' he said. 'Just an amazing individual. Just really a great loss for all of us. This is tragic.' This 2024 photo provided by John Santoro shows, from left, Dr. Michael Groff, Karenna Groff, Dr. Joy Saini, and James Santoro. Uncredited/Associated Press Joy Saini Karenna Groff's mother, Joy Saini, was born in Punjab, India, and immigrated to the United States with her parents, according to a family statement. Saini went on to become an accomplished pelvic surgeon and the founder of Saini trained in medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, where she met Michael Groff, the statement said. Jared Groff Karenna's brother, Jared Groff, graduated from Swarthmore College in 2022 and worked as a paralegal, according to a family statement. Groff studied economics and political science at Swarthmore and worked at DW Partners in New York. He was weighing law school acceptances for the fall, the statement said. This 2023 photo provided by John Santoro shows his son, James Santoro, and Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player recently named the NCAA Woman of Year. Uncredited/Associated Press James Santoro James Santoro, Karenna Groff's boyfriend, was also a recent MIT graduate, earning a bachelor's degree in finance in 2022. They met when they were MIT freshmen, and Santoro planned to propose to Groff this summer, his father, John Santoro, told the Associated Press. 'They were a wonderful family,' he told the AP. 'The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity. We're all personally devastated.' James's mother, Lisa Santoro, said he had recently bought an engagement ring for Groff. Santoro grew up in Tewksbury, N.J., and was a graduate of the Delbarton School, John Santoro said. Advertisement James was a joyful son who was 'determined to become a good man,' which he succeeded in, his mother said. 'He loved deeply, laughed easily, and lived life to the fullest. Nothing was better than being enveloped in one of his big hugs. Nothing will be better than being his mother,' Lisa said in an email statement. His sister, Caroline Santoro, who lives and works in New York City, said James was a loving older brother. 'I loved James from the moment I was born, I loved growing up with him, and I will spend the rest of my life loving him and living in his memory,' Caroline, 23, said in an email. Jared Groff and Alexia Couyutas Duarte were both graduates of Swarthmore College. They died in a plane crash near Craryville, N.Y. on Saturday, April 12. Couyutas Duarte Family Alexia Couyutas Duarte Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff's partner, also graduated Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard Law School this fall. Alexia Couyutas Duarte had lived with the Groff family for the past year in Weston, and loved being in the Boston area, her sister Maria Claudia Couyutas Duarte said. Alexia had long dreamt of studying at Harvard Law School, and attended an admitted students event the day before the plane crash, her sister said. Alexia hoped to one day become a judge. 'If you think about it, it was almost like she was living her perfect life,' said Maria Claudia, 30, who lives in Orlando, Fla. Alexia was 24 and one of four siblings raised by a single mother in Miami, her sister said. 'My sister was all about paying tribute to my mom's hard work and really using everything, all the resources she had, to her advantage to be the best she could be,' her sister said. 'We always say here at home that she wanted to eat the world up.' Advertisement This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. John R. Ellement can be reached at
Boston Globe
14-04-2025
- Boston Globe
‘Heartbroken' friends and colleagues mourn four members of Weston family killed in plane crash
Advertisement Also killed was Karenna Groff's boyfriend and recent MIT graduate, James Santoro, and Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff's partner, who graduated from Swarthmore College and planned to attend Harvard Law School, relatives said Sunday in a joint statement. Karenna Groff threw a ball prior to a baseball game at Fenway Park on April 3, 2023 in Boston. Charles Krupa/Associated Press 'We will remember them as the six brilliant, dynamic, and loving people that they were,' the statement said. Chiocca said Karenna and Jared Groff were contemporaries with his children at Weston High School and had been at his house on numerous occasions. He also knows the youngest daughter, Anika Groff, who attends Weston High School. 'She's also a great kid, just a really close family,' he said. Karenna Groff graduated in 2018, a year after Jared Groff, according to a statement from the town's public school system. Advertisement 'Their lives ended far too soon,' the statement said. 'One family member, a current student at Weston High School, was not on the plane and remains with us. We are holding her and her extended family and friends in our thoughts and are committed to supporting her in the days ahead.' Anika Groff is scheduled to graduate this year, according to Globe coverage of her career on the school soccer team. Chiocca said Michael Groff was vice chair of the neurosurgery department at Mass General Brigham — Chiocca is the chair — from 2011 until last summer, when he took over as the executive medical director of neurosciences at This 2023 photo provided by John Santoro shows his son, James Santoro, and Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player recently named the NCAA Woman of Year. Uncredited/Associated Press 'He was just a very human human being,' he said. 'He was very well-liked, very empathetic, very charismatic, very kind. He's Jewish so we'd say, 'He's a real mensch.'' The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash but does not provide names of pilots or crash victims. But the profile of the pilot outlined by the NTSB on Sunday — someone who had first earned a license at a young age and was certified to fly the Mitsubishi — matches that of Michael Groff. Relatives and records show he was 16 when he was first licensed to fly and was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly commercial and private aircraft. Chiocca, who flew on a number of occasions with Groff at the controls, believes Michael Graff was piloting the aircraft at the time of the crash, given his long-time passion for flying. NTSB investigator Albert Nixon said the pilot 'reported a missed approach' and asked air traffic control for a new approach plan. Traffic controllers reached out to the pilot three additional times to relay a low altitude alert, but there was no response, Nixon said. No distress call was made from the plane. Advertisement According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Michael Graff was certified to pilot commercial aircraft as well as private aircraft. He was required to wear glasses, records show. His son, Jared, was a student pilot who was not authorized to fly a plane with passengers, records show. The group left Westchester County Airport in New York on Saturday morning heading for Columbia County Airport near the Massachusetts border, NTSB safety board member Todd Inman said at a Inman said investigators had acquired a video of the final seconds before the plane crashed that appears to show the 'aircraft was intact and crashed at a high rate of descent into the ground.' Meri Avratin said Monday she had been at work for a couple hours on Saturday afternoon when numerous ambulances and police cars sped past her vintage clothing store along Route 23. 'I saw a lot of emergency vehicles go by, which when you live in a small community makes you nervous because it could easily be somebody that you know, because I've lived here forever,' said Avratin, 49. Karenna Groff, the NCAA's Woman of the Year in 2022, earned a bachelor's degree in biological engineering in 2022 from MIT and a Master's degree in biological engineering the following year, according to Kimberly Allen, a university spokeswoman. Santoro earned a bachelor's degree in Finance in 2022, Allen said. Advertisement 'They were a wonderful family,' Santoro's father, John Santoro, told the Associated Press. 'The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity. We're all personally devastated.' John said his son met Groff as a freshman at MIT. Santoro grew up in Tewksbury, N.J., and is a graduate of the Delbarton School. He was planning to propose to Groff this summer, the family said in the statement. Karenna Groff was also a volunteer counselor at Camp Kesem at MIT, served as a teaching assistant for the university's department of biological engineering, and was a co-founder of She was only the In 'I was shocked,' she said. 'They had a gold envelope like it was the Golden Globes and they called my name. I was overwhelmed, and the first thing I said was, 'What am I going to say in the speech?'' At the ceremony, Groff was praised for her work in clinical research at Boston Children's Hospital, where she focused on the genetic basis of epilepsy with the hope of generating a new gene theory for children. 'I always want to give back,' Groff said in 2023. 'I feel like it's a responsibility I have.' During her athletic career at MIT, Groff led her soccer team to four NCAA Division 3 tournaments as a two-time captain. Advertisement In April 2023, Groff threw She was a second-year student at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and was accepted to train in the neurosurgery program, according to Steve Ritea, a spokesperson for the school. 'She had already distinguished herself as a rising star inside and outside the classroom, with limitless possibilities on the horizon,' Ritea said. 'Karenna demonstrated exceptional skill and unwavering passion towards the care of patients and the mission of our institution.' Michael Groff was pursuing an executive MBA at MIT's Sloan School of Management, according to Allen. 'Dr. Groff was a highly respected neurosurgeon and physician leader, known for his clinical excellence, compassionate care, and unwavering commitment to advancing the field of neuroscience,' Richard Davis, CEO of Rochester Regional Health, said in a statement. Michael 'became a distinguished neurosurgeon' and was also 'an experienced pilot, who fell in love with flying after being taught by his father at the age of sixteen,' the family statement said. Karenna Groff's mother, Jyot, who was known as Joy, was a pelvic surgeon and the founder of Information about funerals and memorials will be forthcoming, according to the family. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report . John R. Ellement can be reached at
