Chris Kaag

Chris Kaag died peacefully in his sleep on Wednesday morning 30 September 2026 at the age of 50. WFMZ reported the death from Wyomissing. A specific medical cause beyond the peaceful manner of death was not detailed in the foundation's public statement.

IM ABLE said its heart was heavy, recalled that Kaag founded the organisation in 2007, and offered deep condolences to Gretchen, Carter and the Kaag family. The foundation pledged to continue his mission under the banner "No Excuses. Just Move."

Chris Kaag was born on 11 September 1976 in Cherry Point, North Carolina. His childhood moved around the eastern United States and the Reading, Pennsylvania area before the family settled in Canton, Ohio. After high school he followed his father, grandfather and uncle into the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17.

At Parris Island in 1994, drill instructor Dave Hart's words during a cadence run, "Don't quit on me, Kaag," became the phrase Kaag later said echoed in every hard season of his life. He aspired to become a drill instructor himself. During a second tour at Aviano, Italy, in 1997, a duty-related concussion led to the recognition of adrenomyeloneuropathy. After care at Walter Reed Medical Center he was medically retired at the rank of sergeant.

After leaving the Marines Kaag completed a business degree at Penn State and in 2004 started Corps Fitness, named in honour of his father Tom, working first from the back of a truck. In 2007 he founded the IM ABLE Foundation to build active lifestyles for people with disabilities through adaptive equipment grants, inclusive events and community projects.

Under his leadership IM ABLE supported athletes of all abilities, helped deliver an inclusive splash pad in Womelsdorf in 2024, and in 2022 donated a minivan to the Veterans Coalition of Pennsylvania. That same year Kaag entered the Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame. He connected veterans with children who needed specialised workouts and raised funds for adaptive bikes and other gear. His public message stayed constant: a diagnosis need not define a person; improvise, adapt and overcome.

Kaag lived with AMN for nearly three decades, latterly using canes or a wheelchair while remaining a visible coach and speaker. He married Gretchen Kaag; they had a son, Carter. In March 2026 Gretchen spoke with WFMZ about his memoir Don't Quit On Me: A Story of Resilience and a Life Dedicated to Serving, describing it as a way for Carter and others to find light after hard news.

He kept ties with Marine mentors, including a 2010 reunion with Hart, by then a lieutenant colonel. Corps Fitness operated from Wyomissing, where Kaag made his home in Berks County.

Kaag's legacy is practical and cultural: hundreds of adaptive grants, inclusive public projects, a Berks County fitness community built for all abilities, and a phrase that outlived him. Veterans, families of children with disabilities and adaptive athletes in Pennsylvania pointed to IM ABLE as proof that equipment and encouragement can change daily life.

His memoir and Hall of Fame induction fixed his story in the wider adaptive-sports movement. Colleagues remembered a Marine who refused to let AMN write the last word on what he or others could do.