NBA Legend Stan Van Gundy Loses His Wife Kimberly to Sudden Death at 61

Kim­ber­ly Van Gundy, the beloved wife of for­mer NBA coach and cur­rent TNT bas­ket­ball com­men­ta­tor Stan Van Gundy, passed away unex­pect­ed­ly last week, her obit­u­ary revealed. She was only 61 years old.

The cause of death for the devot­ed moth­er of four, who died in Orlan­do on Aug. 16, remains unknown. She had been mar­ried to Stan, 63, for 35 years and they had a beau­ti­ful love story.

The cou­ple met in 1984 at Castle­ton State Col­lege in Ver­mont, where Kim­ber­ly was study­ing and Stan became the youngest head bas­ket­ball coach in the nation at 24, accord­ing to Sports Illustrated.

Kim­ber­ly was born on Aug. 22, 1961 in Town­shend, Ver­mont, her obit­u­ary stat­ed. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Castle­ton State Col­lege and her master’s degree in coun­sel­ing from Ford­ham University.

“Kimberly’s kind­ness and love for all around her was shown through her char­i­ta­ble works and activism,” her obit­u­ary said. “In lieu of flow­ers, dona­tions can be made to Pet Alliance of Greater Orlan­do or Crossroad’s Cor­ral in Kim’s memory.”

Stan is sur­vived by his wife Kim­ber­ly and their chil­dren Shan­non, Michael, Ali­son and Kel­ly; as well as her moth­er Jane Den­nan, her father Ernest Abbott, her broth­ers Kevin and Kei­th Abbott and Kristo­pher Den­nan, her two sis­ters Eliz­a­beth McKen­zie and Cather­ine McCar­ty, their spous­es and 13 nieces and nephews.

Her broth­er-in-law Jeff Van Gundy, Stan’s younger broth­er and for­mer NBA coach who recent­ly left ESPN as an ana­lyst, also mourns her loss.

Cather­ine, Kimberly’s sis­ter, shared a heart­break­ing state­ment with TMZ Sports.

“I lost my big sis­ter Kim­ber­ly Abbott Van Gundy on Wednes­day,” she wrote. “She was one of my favorite peo­ple and I will for­ev­er miss her. Rest in peace, Kim.”