Liam Gunn O'Keefe

2003 - 2024

Liam Gunn O'Keefe

January 24, 2003 - May 31, 2024

Coconut Grove, Florida - Liam Gunn O'Keefe passed away in a tragic accident in Coconut Grove, Florida. Liam was a gifted sailor and a beloved son, brother, grandson, cousin and nephew.

Liam was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and graduated from Ransom Everglades High School in May 2021. He began sailing on Biscayne Bay when he was 7 years old. Sailing quickly became his passion and he led his family on many sailing adventures in numerous countries around the world.

During high school, he was an accomplished sailor, honor society member and youth sailing coach. He was a world champion in team racing in the Optimist class, won multiple C420 team racing national championships, finished on the podium at the Sailing High School National Championships for Ransom Everglades.

Liam believed in living life to the fullest, during a gap year between high school and college, he helped establish a varsity sailing team at the Palmer Trinity School as its first head coach. He later spent three months in Asia learning about Buddhism, elephants, and meditation, furthering his passion for travel and experiencing new cultures.

Liam loved the ocean and had a large group of friends. If he wasn't sailing or in school, he would likely be found on a boat with friends, wakeboarding, lobstering, exploring or just hanging out at Stiltsville.

Liam was a rising junior at Brown University concentrating in design engineering. He enjoyed learning how the world works, striving to make the world a better place. He saw his academic path and personal passions interwoven with a consistent thread of discovery, analysis and creation. His design engineering concentration was a reflection of his lifelong engagement with the principles of physics and design, as they were vividly embodied for him in sailing.

As a freshman at Brown he was named the New England Sailing Conference Rookie of the Year, the winner of Brown's Cub Award as the top freshman male student-athlete at Brown, winner of Brown Sailing's Brooke Gonzalez Award as the most courageous freshman on the team and was the freshman captain. He was a two-time All-New England Open First Team Skipper, and a two-time All-American Open Skipper. He led Brown to the program's first-ever Intercollegiate College Sailing Association Match Racing National Championship in 2023. Liam played a key role in Brown being named the Best Overall Team in College Sailing in 2023-24. Liam had high aspirations of becoming a professional sailor.

Liam is survived by his parents Alison and Douglas O'Keefe, his siblings Sawyer and Mac O'Keefe, his grandmother Beverly Gerald and many loving aunts, uncles and cousins.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club at 2540 S. Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133 (casual nautical, pink or plaid attire requested) and Saturday, August 31, 2024 at the Edgewood Yacht Club in Cranston, Rhode Island. In lieu of flowers, kindly consider a donation to the Liam Gunn O'Keefe Memorial Fund