BALTIMORE — Pava LaPere received an enormous amount of love on Wednesday.
People of all ages, races, genders, and backgrounds were at her vigil to mourn her and remember her; the vigil demonstrated just how many lives she has touched in Baltimore.
LaPere’s friends and fellow entrepreneurs took turns sharing their memories with everyone in attendance.
“To Frank and Caroline and Nico, and the whole family, just how deeply sorry we are that this is the reason we’re meeting," Jamie McDonald with Upsurge Baltimore said.
“Thank you for the gift that Pava was to all of us. I hope you can see by the number of people here today how special she was and how loved she was by all of us," Kory Bailey said.
People cried uncontrollably as they heard stories about LaPere and how she impacted the lives of everyone she’d met.
“The ecosystem that Pava built has wrapped her arms around me and our team to somehow someway try to press on," Sherrod Davis, co-founder of EcoMap Technologies, said.
Emphasizing the love she had for her work but also for the city of Baltimore, a city she was not born into but grew to love.
“In her own deeply compelling and charismatic way, led Baltimore to see itself through her eyes. as a city of beauty, of grit, of tenacity, authenticity, and immense if unrealized potential," McDonald said.
LaPere’s father also spoke, sharing stories from her childhood to paint an even larger picture of who she was as a person.
“I want to thank you all for being here and for loving our daughter and taking care of her. We’re going to take her away from Baltimore, but her presence will never leave here," Frank LaPere said.
Pava’s family will return to Tuscon, Arizona, where they will lay her to rest.
