Nickolas Benjamin Pippen, a chemical engineer and volunteer, died Aug. 13 of complications from a bone marrow transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Joppatowne resident was 26.
Mr. Pippen was born in Baltimore and raised in Joppatowne. He was a 2000 graduate of Joppatowne High School, where he played first base on the school's varsity baseball team and was a member of its golf team.
He earned a degree in chemical engineering in 2005 from the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.
After graduating from Maryland, Mr. Pippen worked for three years at Tic Gums Inc., a White Marsh company that imports, manufactures and processes vegetable gums used by food and pharmaceutical companies nationwide.
In May 2008, Mr. Pippen was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant three months later.
"From the day he was diagnosed, Nick fought for his life with a quiet courage and strength," said his mother, Diane M. Pippen, director of the Diamond Dance Center and a Joppatowne resident.
"Nick never gave up, and his fondest wish was to get better and come home to be with family and friends," she said.
Over the past year, Mr. Pippen endured frequent hospitalizations, and at the time of his death had been in Hopkins since June 5.
Lacy Fetting, a clinical oncology social worker with the Harry J. Duffey Patient and Family Services Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Hopkins, became a close friend.
"What a totally awesome and joyous young man. I delighted in his joy, his liveliness, his intellect and his engagement with the world," wrote Ms. Fetting in an e-mail.
"He had a curious combination of acceptance and struggle so while he possessed the capacity to 'bloom where planted,' this was never blind acceptance," she wrote. "He challenged and rigorously examined the data while deliberating the many medical decisions he faced on his journey."
While not a churchgoer, Mr. Pippen maintained a deep curiosity about religious matters and read widely in the subject.
Barrett Lauder, who works for AFS-USA, a nonprofit student exchange program, was a friend since childhood.
"He was very sharp and always mature for his age. He was always ready to respectfully and lovingly tell me how he saw it," Mr. Lauder said. "He always tried to teach but was never afraid to learn."
