Kathryn Parten, a second-year student in the Wharton Executive MBA program (WEMBA), died in early March. She was 43.

Ms. Parten excelled in both academics and the performing arts. Her family lived in the U.K. for four years when she was a child, and from ages 8 to 12, she took lessons from Russian ballet instructors. After high school, she earned a living as a singer in Los Angeles. Ms. Parten earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University after transferring from a junior college in California. She then worked for SAP, a Fortune 500 corporation,  in Palo Alto, California, and served as an entrepreneurial leader of a team of musicians to write songs, record, and perform throughout California.

Beginning in 2020, Ms. Parten worked in private equity at Anacapa Partners in San Mateo, California, where she collaborated with entrepreneurs and business owners to help them acquire, run, or exit their companies. She joined the San Francisco cohort of the Wharton Executive MBA program in 2023 and took courses across all three WEMBA cohorts during her time at Wharton.

Ms. Parten is survived by her parents.