Karen Doyle

Karen Lang Doyle, who co-created the first Equestrian Paralympics Games and funded American Competition Opportunities for Riders with Disabilities (ACORD), died on Feb. 24, 2024, after a catastrophic stroke. She was 54.  

Karen was a brilliant and successful sports marketer who managed sponsorships and events for some of Atlanta’s biggest brands, including the Coca-Cola Co. She worked with the sports marketing arm of the Scott Boras Corp., overseeing Fortune 500 sponsorships for the professional athletes Boras managed. She later joined Don Dow at DowEvents, where she hosted hospitality for the Masters Golf Tournament, the Super Bowl, MLB All-Star games, Ryder Cup and the Kentucky Derby, among other major events. 

Among her most celebrated accomplishments was the Hunter Army Air Base conversion for the G8 conference in 2004. She also organized the arrival of 22 official delegation aircraft and 18 heads of state, managed staffing for the communications center and served as a liaison to federal and state agencies. For her civilian service, Karen received a White House commendation and the Garrison Commander Coin of Excellence.

 Years later, she worked with a friend on her resume. “Can I just put that I rock and get shit done??” she joked. But she did rock. And she did get shit done.

 Karen Colleen Lang was born on June 24, 1969, in Inverness, Illinois, to Walter R. Lang and Margaret “Peg” Lang. Her dad worked in textiles, which took the family to New York in 1979 and Atlanta in 1982. She loved all things equestrian, first riding in New York and later at Huntcliff Stables near Atlanta. At Crestwood High School in Dunwoody, she was a fixture in student government and a varsity cheerleader, among other activities. 

 She graduated in 1987 and attended the College of Charleston, where she studied political science and was a nationally ranked college equestrian, a cheerleader and a debate team member (even besting Harvard University’s team in competition.)

Her love for horses and riding led her to the Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee, where she joined Judy Nagy in creating, planning and executing the first Paralympic Equestrian Competition. Held in August 1996, the event included 17 participating countries and 600 individuals. Simultaneously, Karen worked full-time at International Sports Events, where she managed more than $10 million in corporate hospitality programs for Fortune 500 companies. 

 Karen met the man she would marry when the two were about 10 years old and neighbors in Niskayuna, New York. Each had a crush on the other, but as tweens they were “too young and awkward to date,” Kevin Doyle says. Karen moved with her family to Atlanta in 1982, but the two stayed in touch through a mutual friend and would see one another during the horse racing season in Saratoga, N.Y. “Karen called it the circle of life,” Kevin says. 

 “We would see each other almost every year, and she usually had a boyfriend, until one year when we met up and were both single. I jumped at the opportunity to ask her out. I specifically remember a close friend saying, ‘Karen looks great,’ and I immediately said, “Back off.’ We dated long distance until I moved to Atlanta and married two years later.” 

 They married in 2003. The couple welcomed two boys in the years that followed, Ryan in 2004 and Matthew in 2006. Both boys found their way into sports, a natural fit for an up-for-anything, always-in-your-corner, boisterous, cheerleading mom like Karen.

 She doted on her boys, even while juggling a challenging work schedule. “She was at every game throughout the years,” says Kevin, who coached baseball, basketball and lacrosse for Ryan and Matthew. 

 Karen stayed active, too. She loved to work out, play tennis, ride horses and even ran 3-4 miles a day when she was 8 months pregnant with Ryan. These passions — particularly tennis and riding — led to two hip replacements. She even tried to pick up pickleball after her second hip replacement. 

 Karen often described her humor as sarcastic, and while irony was her strength, she wasn’t derisive. She was witty, irreverent and the best kind of loud. She could hold her own in any debate, playful to the end: “Bite my ass,” she would say. Conversation over.

 At home, she got as good as she gave. Kevin says he and the boys loved to tell her that cheerleading wasn’t a sport, but she never gave in. And she was right. 

 She called holidays “forced family fun,” and wore a festive apron bearing those words for a laugh. 

 Karen was fiercely loyal and big-hearted, and she developed lifelong friends in the Atlanta neighborhood where she lived and at her high school. She was a fixture on the planning group for reunions, which were beautiful events thanks to Karen’s negotiations and oversight.

 As a friend, Karen was deeply trusting, compassionate and even more excited about your successes than you were. She treasured her friends, showed up for them, and sometimes made unexpected phone calls that would joyfully last for hours. 

 Karen is survived by her husband, Kevin H. Doyle; their two sons, Ryan Francis Doyle and Matthew Lang Doyle; her father, Walter R. Lang; her uncle, Raymond Lang; two sisters, Kristin Duclos and Leslie Lang; nieces Kara Duclos, Adrienne Duclos and Stephanie Duclos; several cousins and a circle of friends too big to count.

 She was preceded in death by her mother, Margaret Lang.

 Services will be held on Friday, March 1, at 11 a.m., immediately followed by interment and visitation, at Canton Funeral Home & Cemetery at Macedonia Memorial Park, 10655 E. Cherokee Drive, Canton, Ga., 30115. 

 To donate to a fund set up for the family, visit https://www.gofundme.com/karen-langs-children-fund-from-crestwood or alternatively click on donate button below.