Karam David Skaff

Karam David Skaff, a dedicated family man and entrepreneurial talent with an exuberant personality and bright smile, passed away in his sleep on August 22, 2024 after a long battle with prostate cancer. Karam was born into an extended family of Lebanese immigrants in Akron, Ohio on October 30, 1928. His father, David Sleman Skaff, had arrived at Ellis Island as a penniless immigrant at the age of thirteen. He later moved to Akron, Ohio where he married Sadie Karam Skaff and built a successful oriental rug business. They lived with Sadie’s parents, Nicola and Almaz Karam, who had been peddlers after immigrating to the United Sates in the early 1900s. The couple’s first child, Elaine, born in 1927, had cerebral palsy and remained under the care of her mother for her entire life. Karam’s younger brother, David Sleman Skaff, Jr., completed the family in 1936. Young Karam developed his bright smile and showboat personality as he clamored for attention from his busy parents. The family environment was conducive to training Karam in business from a young age. Karam particularly idolized his father and imitated his salesmanship, sharp wardrobe, and weekend parties with friends.

Although Karam’s father only had a fourth-grade education in Lebanon, he and Sadie aspired to educate Karam and his brother. With the carpet business prospering in the 1940s, the couple sent both sons to prep school at Worcester Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts where Karam won the English Prize when he graduated in 1946. Karam continued his education at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, where he was nicknamed “Dude” because of his natty attire modeled on his father.

After earning a degree in Political Science in 1950, Karam began his career in retailing at the lowest level selling men’s clothing at O’Neil’s Department Store in Mansfield, Ohio. According to his brother David, “Karam had a gift for recognizing opportunity, a winning and enthusiastic personality, deep experience, and was extremely likeable. Combined with high energy and willing to work long hours, he converted these attributes into repeated success.” These qualities soon earned him a promotion at O’Neil’s where he was trained to become a buyer and merchandiser of cosmetics. By 1956, he moved to Gray Drug, a chain based in Cleveland, Ohio where he became a health and beauty buyer and met his future wife, Donna Marie Gedeon, who was working as a secretary during summer break. They were married on August 22, 1958. The young couple became parents to Jonathan in 1960 and Jeffrey in 1962.

Karam’s reputation in merchandising kept the growing family on the move as he was hired away to positions at the Kroger Supermarket chain in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1962 and Zayre Department Stores in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1966. During the stay in Cincinnati, Jill was born in 1963 and Gregory in 1964. Jennifer became the final member of the family in 1970. By this time, the family had taken up residence at a home built in Sudbury, Massachusetts. By the late 1970s, Karam had become an Executive Vice President at Zayre overseeing divisions that included health and beauty, stationary, sporting goods, candy, and music.

Karam “retired” from Zayre in 1982, during a period of corporate restructuring, to become his own boss. He spent the next twenty-five years engaged in a series of entrepreneurial ventures. He founded Skaff Marketing, originally based in Marlborough, Massachusetts and later run out of his homes at South Yarmouth, Massachusetts and Longboat Key, Florida, which sourced goods at discounted prices to sell to retailers. Karam partnered with outside investors and his friend, Larry Slabine in 1986 to establish a new hair products company, Pantresse, by acquiring Pantene Salon Division from Proctor & Gamble and Jhirmack Salon Division from Platex. By the early 1990s, first Larry and then Karam sold their interests in Pantresse. Released from the daily grind of the office, Karam embarked on the most exciting entrepreneurial venture of his long career, selling machine-made oriental rugs, reproductions of famous paintings, and hair care products to Home Shopping Network. Appearing on television in his signature sharp suits and bow ties, Karam’s showboat personality and salesmanship made him a master pitchman. By the early 2000s, he was semi-retired, but kept Skaff Marketing going to sell machine-made rugs to various retailers. Always willing to learn, he began to use a computer and email that had become the new standard of business communication. Full retirement was forced on Karam in 2008 at the age of 80 when his business dried up during the Great Recession. The next decade was a truly enjoyable time for him, avidly following the New England Patriots, playing golf, socializing with friends, and entertaining family members during their visits to Cape Cod and Longboat Key.

Life became particularly challenging after the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020. The isolation seems to have triggered his wife Donna’s Alzheimer’s, then Karam fell and fractured his hip in May 2021. A hip replacement surgery in January 2022 returned his mobility, but there was no cure for Donna’s Alzheimer’s or Karam’s prostate cancer. With their health deteriorating, they moved to the Plymouth Harbor assisted living facility in Sarasota in 2023 where he became a favorite of the staff because of his wise-cracking humor. He leaves behind his wife Donna, younger brother David, five children, nine grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. A true family man to the end, Karam’s dying wish was for his family to stay together after his passing and care for his beloved wife Donna.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend Karam's Funeral Service Saturday October 5, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Annunciation Melkite Cathedral 7 V.F.W. Parkway, West Roxbury, followed by his interment at Mt. Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury.

In lieu of flowers, Karam’s wish was for donations to Anera to assist displaced people in the Middle East who, like his father, have fled poverty and oppression, or the Alzheimer’s Association to help people with the same affliction as his wife Donna.  Please see the links below under CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS.