Ray Kampermann died on May 2, 2026, after a brief battle with cancer.

He was born Raymond Edward Kamperman on October 6, 1960, to Edward Kamperman and Carol (Raymond) Kamperman in Brooklyn, New York. Ray grew up in Huntington and in Elmhurst, Queens, NY. While in high school, Ray competed on the school wrestling team and won the All-City Championship City in his weight class. He graduated from Newtown High School in 1978 and entered Hunter College late that year. In college, he boxed Golden Gloves. He graduated from Hunter in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Soon after that, he began training in elevator mechanics, the same trade of both his father and grandfather. Proud of his Dutch-German heritage, Ray, like his father, changed the spelling of his last name to include the extra “n” at the end.

Ray’s real passion was the piano. He was classically trained and continued to study piano as an adult. While elevator mechanics provided his primary source of income, he also became certified as a piano technician. He tuned pianos for several Broadway theaters as well as Lincoln Center and other famous concert venues and for performing artists such as Elton John and Billy Joel.

During the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, Ray was one of four volunteers with expertise in elevator repair who was helicoptered onto the roof of one of the towers and was lowered down into the building where he helped rescue some of the 500 people who were trapped in the elevators—including an entire kindergarten class. He was awarded the Medal of Valor by the New York-New Jersey Port Authority Police Department for this courageous act.

In 2007, Ray and his family moved from New York to Waco, Texas, where he eventually achieved his dream of owning his own piano gallery. He retired as an elevator mechanic in 2018 and began to pursue the piano business full-time. He owned a piano gallery and also provided piano moving, repair, and tuning services until he became seriously ill in March of this year.

Ray was preceded in death by his father, Edward Kampermann. He is survived by his daughter Amanada Kampermann of Waco; by his mother Carol Kamperman-Smith and uncle Bob Raymond, of Waco; by his uncle and aunt William and Judy Kamperman of Cohasset, Massachusetts, by his brother Michael Kamperman and wife Carrolle; and by his brother Kevin Kamperman and wife Robin of Austin. He is also survived by several cousins, a niece and two nephews, and three great-grandnieces.

A service of remembrance will be held on Saturday, May 9, at 10 AM, at Grace Gardens Funeral Home.