Ojai resident, Eric Abdulkarim, born June 22, 1987 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was rollerblading with his brother in Manhattan Beach on July 5, 2014 when he suddenly collapsed and passed away.
Eric was only 27 years old, but possessed wisdom beyond his young age. He was hones, caring and very loving to everyone who crossed his path. He was someone who always thought out of the box. Having views on life and living in this vast Universe was always on his mind. He had an
appreciation for all of life and respected his life. Eric believed that when we die our souls go to another place in the universe and that our souls can travel at the speed of light and that we become
infinite.
Eric was a wonderful father, son, grandson, brother and friend. Of all his achievements, Eric was most proud of his children, Ryan, Makayla and Hayden Abdulkarim.
Eric recently became an LVN, having graduated from CCI in Ventura in 2012. He was planning on becoming an R.N. in the near future. He loved nursing and was proud to work in a career where he could help others. At the time of his passing, Eric was on staff at the Ventura County Medical Center and at Vista Del Mar.
Eric was a seasoned traveler, having traveled all over the United States. He had been all over Europe and spent summers in Syria with his cousins. Eric really loved the outdoors. He loved to be out hiking. He hiked the Half Dome in Yosemite as well as all over the Tuolumne Meadows. He especially loved hiking the Pratt Trail in Ojai. Eric was an avid skier from a very young age and loved to ski in the Sierra Nevadas, Tahoe, Denver, Utah and all over Europe. He and his sister even skied across the border of Italy and Switzerland at the Davos and Klosters ski resort. Eric
loved Star Wars memorabilia, Disneyland where he spent numerous days with his daughter Makayla. He loved action and comedy movies. He just loved going to the movies! One of his favorite pastimes was to scrapbook especially before facebook was popular. Eric and his sister
would compile many books of family photographs of places traveled. Eric had many of these books preserved. Eric was a theme park enthusiast. He loved roller coasters and his two favorite places
were Six Flags Magic Mountain and Disneyland California Adventure. Eric was an extremely family oriented person. He loved to be around family. He loved to plan the holidays and outings. He was always so enthusiastic about celebrating and living life. Eric did not care for alcohol or parties, in fact he only did that a handful of times. Eric was on a natural high in life he was just happy to be here on earth.
Prior to studying at CCI, Eric attended medical school in Lithuania at Kaunas University and returned after one semester to be with family.
In addition to his three children, Eric is survived by his loving mother, Marie Rye, his grandmother, Linda Valenzuela, his siblings Amir, Seif, Anndalos and Christine, his girlfriend Jessica Burson and a host of nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins both in the United States and Syria. His father, Ezedhin H. Abdulkarim, predeceased him.
Funeral services for Eric will be held at 11:30 A.M. Saturday July 19, 2014 at the Joseph Reardon Funeral Home in Ventura. Burial will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, Ventura.
Friends may visit at the Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, 757 East Main Street, Ventura
from 2:00 to 7:00 PM on Friday July 18, 2014
May Eric rest in the infinite Universe that he talked about so much and in the loving arms of God. Rest in Peace.