A prominent family of doctors and MIT student-athletes tragically died in a plane crash in Copake, New York, this past weekend. The six were en route to the Catskills for a birthday and Passover celebration when their Mitsubishi MU-2B aircraft went down Saturday afternoon in a muddy field. There were no survivors.
The victims included Karenna Groff, an MIT soccer star and NCAA’s 2022 Woman of the Year; her boyfriend, MIT graduate James Santoro; her father, Dr. Michael Groff, a renowned neurosurgeon; and her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist.
The crash followed other deadly aviation incidents in 2025, including a helicopter crash in NYC and a plane crash in Florida.
Before the crash, the pilot reported a missed approach and requested new coordinates. Air traffic control warned of the plane’s low altitude but received no reply. Investigators say video footage shows the plane intact before its steep descent. The pilot was experienced, and the aircraft was legally certified.
Karenna, a biomedical engineering graduate, co-founded openPPE during the pandemic and was honored with the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. She and James had moved to Manhattan, where she attended NYU medical school and he worked in finance.
“They were a wonderful family,” said John Santoro, James’s father. “The world lost very good people who had so much more to give.”
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