USTA  Foundation Advisory Board member Carol Richardson Kimmelman, who received the Foundation’s inaugural National Service Award in November, passed away at her home in Rancho Santa Fe on January 6 following a long illness.

A former teacher, gifted athlete, and mother of four, Kimmelman’s passion was tennis, and her dream was to bring tennis to underserved  youth just like the children she taught at the Raymond Avenue School in South Los Angeles.

To honor Kimmelman’s lifetime dedication to serving others, the Kimmelman family has announced the endowment of the Carol Richardson Kimmelman Tennis Center which will be built and developed in conjunction with the USTA Foundation (USTAF) in Los Angeles.

Kimmelman saw the USTAF mission to change lives through tennis and education as a natural fit for her experience as a teacher and player. Since 2008, Kimmelman has served on the USTAF Board of Directors, contributing her energies for the past two years as the co-chair (with James Blake) of the USTAF West Coast Pro Am. She was an annual supporter of the US Open Opening Night Gala.

A fierce competitor, the Riverside, CA, native was a graduate of the University of Southern California and played on the Trojans’ 1983 national championship team. She moved to Bernardsville, NJ for 20 years where she and her husband, Doug, raised their four children, and she continued to compete in both tennis and platform tennis. In 2009, Kimmelman won the NJ State Mixed Platform Tennis Championship.

Carol, who was known as “Lulu” to her family and friends, was universally respected for the tenacity, perseverance, and courage she displayed following her 2009 diagnosis of ovarian cancer. She continued to live life to the fullest for seven years.

Donations in memory of Carol Kimmelman and to support the Carol  Richardson Kimmelman Tennis Center can be made online or checks can be made payable to USTA Foundation Incorporated, noting the Carol Kimmelman Fund, and mailed to: USTA Foundation,  70 West Red Oak Lane, White Plains, NY 10604.

Special Thanks to the USTA Foundation for this story.