Jeffrey Charles Zaniker, 49 of Carmel, passed away Wednesday, March 15, 2017 in California, while on business. Jeff was born June 30th, 1967 in San José CA to Donald and Eleanor Zaniker. He attended Turpin High School (Class of 1985) and went on to graduate from Purdue University (Class of 1990) where he studied Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. He also graduated with an MBA from the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business (Class of 1996). At Purdue he was a student senator and President of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, where he forged lifelong friendships.
In 1986, during his time at Purdue, he met Jill Stafford. They were married in October Jeff began working immediately upon graduation at Andersen Consulting, now called Accenture. He continued to work there for 27 years, most recently as Operations Managing Director, Global Sales Operations, and Customer Care Offerings Leader. After they were married, Jeff and Jill lived in Peoria, IL where their first daughter, Alexi was born in 1995. Shortly after Alexi was born, the family moved to Carmel where their other two daughters, Emily and Elise, were born in 1997 and 1999 respectively. He was so proud of his wife and children and will surely be smiling down upon them.
Some of the things that Jeff enjoyed the most were biking, traveling, and philanthropy. He devoted years working with the Hunger Mission at Second Presbyterian Church, where he organized letter writing campaigns and food drives. He began to get involved with Niños Con Valor, an organization that supports two homes for children in Cochabamba, Bolivia, after visiting the homes on a trip in 2012 and 2015. Jeff also served on the USA board of the directors for NCV, including leading the strategic planning and maintained relationships with the other members of the board and the children in the homes throughout his life.
Jeff was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2003. It became their family’s mission to raise money and find a cure for MS. Jeff organized, lead, and rode with a team of seven other cyclists in 3 cross country bike races for Race Across America from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD to raise money for the National MS Society. He was involved in both the MS Walk and bike rides in Indianapolis. Jeff served on both the local and National boards for the National MS Society until his passing.
Jeff touched so many lives and he will be missed dearly. Jeff is survived by his wife Jill Zaniker; his children; Alexi Zaniker, Emily Zaniker, and Elise Zaniker; his mother Eleanor Zaniker, and his siblings; John Zaniker and Laurel (Zaniker) Fortin. He was preceded in death by his father, Donald Zaniker in 1987.
A celebration of Jeff’s life will be held at Second Presbyterian Church on Monday, March 27th at 2 p.m., with a visitation, where all are welcome, from 11:00 am until the time of the service. A reception will take place after the service at the Zaniker’s home. Memorial contributions can be made to the National MS Society, Team Gears to a Cure bit.ly/2n22T4r , The HungerMission at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N. Meridian St., Indpls. IN 46260, or Niños Con Valor at www.ninosconvalor.org in lieu of flowers.
Please visit flannerbuchanan.com to sign the online guest register.
