Wyckoff Mourns Soccer Player Who 'Inspired Us All With His Hope'

FRANKLIN LAKES, NJ — Benjamin Landel inspired everyone "with his hope, determination, courage and strength" during his nine-month battle with cancer.

Landel, 18, a stand-out soccer player and track athlete at Ramapo High School, died Thursday.

"Although he inspired us all with his hope, determination, courage and strength during this time, we choose to remember him more for the human being he was and the impact he made on the world around him," Landel's obituary states. "Ben embodied all that is good in the world. Known especially for his perpetual kindness.

"Ben was also unselfish, loyal, trustworthy, compassionate, generous, focused, forgiving and humble. He was a gift and an inspiration to all who knew him. He made all of our lives better simply by sharing his life with us."

Landel was a talented soccer player and accomplished distance runner. He contributed to county, sectional and state championship winning teams and broke several school records.

He received all-league, all-county and all-state honors in track and field.

Landel was a "tremendous son, brother, nephew, cousin, grandson, friend and student-athlete, Ben was loved and cherished by his family and friends and admired by his teachers and coaches, his classmates, his teammates and even his opponents," his obituary states.

He is survived by his parents Patricia and Robert; brother Jack; sister Veronica; maternal grandparents Lynn and Walter Richard; paternal grandparents Pamela and Robert; aunts and uncles Laura Leonard and Derek Landel, Susie and Fred Kinch and Cristina and Jack Rickard; cousins Ella and Madigan Landel, Freddy, Charlie and August Kinch and Liam and Jamie Rickard.

His life and legacy will be honored Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's R.C. Church, 700 Wyckoff Ave., Wyckoff.

A funeral mass celebrating his life is Saturday at St. Elizabeth's R.C. Church at 10 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, he asked that donations be made to The Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Cancer, IRON MATT. Donations can be made online at ironmatt.cdmeyer.net or by mail to Iron Matt, P.O. Box 836, Franklin Lakes, N.J. 07417.

Related: Ramapo HS Soccer, Track Athlete Ben Landel Dies Of Cancer

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com. Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.

Photo: Ben Landel/Courtesy of GoFundMe