The Utah Mammoth’s chief communications officer, Caroline Klein, died on Thursday due to complications of lung cancer. She was 40.
The Utah Mammoth’s chief communications officer, Caroline Klein, died on Thursday due to complications of lung cancer. She was 40.
From 2022 onward, Klein was an important part of Smith Entertainment Group, which owns the NBA’s Utah Jazz and brought the NHL to Salt Lake City in 2024.
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On Aug. 22, Klein’s family posted a message to her LinkedIn account on her behalf, titled, “Remember me for the way I lived.”
“If you’re reading this, it’s because my lungs have taken their final breath, and my soul is on a thoughtful search for its next great adventure,” her message read.
“After a 38-year run of never getting sick – I got a mild cold once every few years and only took ‘sick’ days to enjoy a day off to explore a new hike – my August 2023 cancer diagnosis hit me like a Mack Truck.”
Klein said less than weeks after she moved to Utah, she developed foot drop in September 2022.
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“That ailment evolved into Stage 4 Proximal Type Epithelioid Sarcoma in my lungs — a very rare, very aggressive soft tissue cancer for which there aren’t enough answers, research, or treatment options,” she wrote. “But, being the pragmatist I am, my attitude from the start was, ‘it’s what it is,’ and instead of wasting any time obsessing about how not to die, I spent my cancer journey focusing on how to live the fullest life as much as I could control. And boy, did I live.”
Remember me for the way I lived.
What followed from diagnosis to death resembled driving a Formula 1 car full-speed to soak up every possible moment with her loved ones and seek adventure, laughter, joy and more, Klein said.
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While Klein wrote she wished she could love another several decades, she loved her life and wouldn’t have changed a thing.
“It was an amazing run filled with opportunities to push myself to my limits and feel more alive than ever, as well as times that took me to the bottom and made me dig deep into my soul’s legacy of being a warrior spirit to channel an infallible resilience and overcome incredibly hard things. I was at peace leaving the world knowing that I didn’t leave anything on the table and that I made a great impact on others around me.”
Klein said the messages she received brought a smile to her face, and she hopes people don’t wait to truly live and do the things that bring them joy.
“I want everyone to remember me for the way I lived, not the way I died. And with that in mind, will you do me a favor? Keep asking yourself ‘why not?’ and ‘why wait?’ and pursue all of your dreams with an unapologetic determination. We only have one life to live, and it’s on you to live it to the fullest. So please, try to see every day as a license to LIVE, not just pass the time.”
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Klein thanked her husband, Mike Gartlan, for helping her do it all and supporting her without hesitation. Klein and Gartlan were married last August.
“To all of my other dear friends and family, I’ll look forward to seeing you in your dreams where we’ll be dancing to 90s hip hop, eating all of the dumplings, popcorn, soft serve ice cream, and sour candy, hiking mountain after mountain, cheers’ing endlessly while exploring cities abroad, and laughing and dancing all day and night.”
You can read her full message here.
‘Truly One Of A Kind’
Ryan Smith, the chairman and CEO of Smith Entertainment Group, said Utah lost a legend on Thursday.
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“She was truly one of a kind. (Ashley, my wife) and I and the rest of the SEG team will miss her every single day,” he said to NHL.com.
NHL.com said Klein helped develop SEG+, a streaming platform for the Mammoth and Jazz, and played a crucial role in the production of the documentary, Note Worthy: 50 Seasons of Jazz Basketball, which launched in 2024.
The NHL also said Klein was “front-and-center” in launching the Utah Hockey Club when the NHL granted SEG an expansion team in April 2024. After receiving the hockey assets from the Arizona Coyotes, Utah began play six months later for the 2024-25 campaign.
The NHL said its family is deeply saddened by Klein’s passing.
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“Caroline’s effervescence and her tireless work to establish the Utah franchise were marvels in themselves, but all the more remarkable given the valiant fight she was waging with cancer,” the league’s statement said.
“Our time working together, like Caroline’s life, was too short. But we and everyone fortunate enough to have met her are endlessly richer for the experience. We send our condolences to her family, the Utah Mammoth and Jazz organizations and her many friends throughout the sports world.”
Source: Utah News