Friends and colleagues of Topco Sales executive Cory Ipson were mourning his passing today.
“We’re all very shocked and in mourning right now,” said company president Scott Tucker of Ipson, who died Tuesday of an apparent suicide.
“Cory was always ready to go and always wanted to do the best job possible. He looked to do the perfect job all the time and just wanted to satisfy everyone’s wishes.”
The 44-year-old Ipson joined the company in 1994 and served as a sales associate at the time of his death.
“Our whole sales team has been affected and we’re offering everyone counseling to deal with this tragedy and that of our other team member, Tracy Khauv who fell ill Friday,” Tucker added.
Khauv is said to be in critical condition today, suffering from an unspecified blood ailment at a local hospital. She is head international sales and is special accounts manager. A third member of the sales team, Karina Vladi, who is Ipson’s girlfriend is also out due to Ipson’s passing.
Christian Mann, vice president of Metro Interactive and former colleague of Ipson when both worked at Video Team, said Ipson was a one-of-a-kind individual.
“I’m going to remember Cory as a decent, honest guy with no sense of arrogance at all and an insatiable appetite for rock and roll. His fanatic love of the Rolling Stones and the Oakland Raiders were well known to anybody who was friends with him,” Mann said.
Susan C. Colvin, president of California Exotic Novelties, who worked with Ipson in the late 1980s at California Publishers Liquidating Corporation, said she will miss Ipson’s friendship and sense of humor.
“I’ve known him for 25 years and Cory was warm hearted, had a great sense of humor and was always a wonderful friend. I enjoyed working with him and I appreciated his friendship. I’m deeply saddened and shocked by his passing.”
Ipson was born on May 29, 1962 and is survived by his daughter, Brooke Zerbel, of Salt Lake City; his Father and step-Mother, Robert K. and Linda Ipson, of Rancho Mirage, Calif.; his Mother, Letha Rasmussen, of Glendale, Ariz.; his half-brother, Jason Todd Ipson, of Beverly Hills, Calif.; and his half-sister, Jaime Burke, of Los Angeles. His brother, Robert Scott Ipson, of Salt Lake City, had passed away previously.
The family said a private service is pending. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations may be made to Huntsman Cancer Foundation, 500 Huntsman Way, SLC, UT 84108, www.huntsmancancerfoundation.org, and the Boxer Rescue L.A., www.boxer-rescue-la.com/donations.htm.
