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His Story

W. Yuri Ivo Karjane was born into a family with two older sisters and an older brother in Morristown, NJ just outside NYC. His eclectic neighborhood had plenty of kids to play with and exposed  Yuri to many creative people, as his friends' parents were artists, musicians, engineers, teachers and women CEOs 

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Yuri began public school in Lexington, MA during the Bicentennial. Our family's house was set among the trees and  shared "common land" and a pool with our Peacock Farms neighborhood, which was environmentally aware and active ; The common land instilled Yuri with a sense of nature and community at an early age and the pool instilled a lifelong love of water.

 In first grade, he moved to South Jersey  where he went through school up to and including several years at Haddon Township High School. Not being the best school for him,  he then spent several weeks at St. Joseph's Catholic school in Philadelphia, before running away. Thankfully,  he re-discovered  his love of learning at The George School in Pennsylvania.  In some measure, exposure to each of these educational environments,  great and not great, helped shape who he would become; A lover of knowledge and learning but not necessarily of formal school.

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In a family that excelled in sports and academics, Yuri seemed to effortlessly possess all of the best attributes: a chill surfer since he taught himself in Maine at age 6,  a state champion wrestler, a recruited lacrosse player for Guilford College in NC, and a stellar student at school- when he deemed it worth his time and effort. LOL. 

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Yuri was a lifelong friend, a deeply feeling person, a staunch supporter of the disenfranchised, the forgotten, the "underdog." He was brilliant, kind, thoughtful, unassuming, steadfast, clever and wildly but quietly charismatic. And funny. Really funny. Yuri calmed those around him with his sheer presence, was kind to all including strangers tiny and tall. A huge dog lover, he exuded "goodness" and people young and old were drawn to him wherever he went, a beautiful thing to witness or share. He was, he is, will forever be beloved. His smile, forever etched in memory, was as magnificent as it was magnetic. Unfortunately, he was able to hide too much behind it. 

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Yuri's creative and artistic abilities gave rise to his chosen career: camerawork. 

After beginning on the East Coast set of "Dawson's Creek," Yuri's ambition, motivation and drive took him to Hollywood- where dreams and surfing- are legendary.  His career developed into decades of film and commercial work- including working with Shaquille O'Neill and Lebron James- the only names we could pry from him. Yuri was both a private and confidential person. For the last 6 years of his life, Yuri did camerawork for Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, including during COVID-19 lockdown, living in the studio's "bubble" during filming.

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Over the years, when he hit a few "bumps in the road,"( literally, when living briefly in a Costa Rican village with unpaved roads), he would head to the water where his love of fishing and  surfing would restore him.  However, although he loved the ocean and fishing/surfing, he always returned to his love of camerawork and the camaraderie he felt with his coworkers on set.

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Simply put, Yuri was spectacular. For those of us who were lucky enough to have known him- for a moment, a day, or a lifetime- a multitude of happy memories are ours to cherish. Unfortunately, those memories will have to keep us now.  Until we meet again...

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