Charlotte native Pierre Lipton made the most of a life cut short, loved ones say
.jpeg "Pierre Lipton, 26, was a Charlotte native and successful businessman. He died in Arizona after running a marathon.")
When longtime teacher Sarah Wheeler’s “dream team” class at Randolph Middle School was about to move on to high school, her students decided to make a video for her and asked her to “sort of sum up each one of them” for the project.
When she got to Pierre Lipton, she said she hoped “he uses his people skills to make the world a better place.”
And she was pleased to see him do just that, she said, from excelling at Myers Park High School to attending Brown University, creating a successful company and meeting his “soulmate” — all by the age of 26.
He even took the time, Wheeler recalled, to reach out to her when she retired.
“I always told (students), ‘OK, when you get married, when you have kids, I need to know,’” she said.
In short, Wheeler said, she expected great things from Lipton, personally and professionally.
What she did not expect was to get a call this February that Lipton, at age 26, had died after completing a marathon in Arizona.
“I feel like I’ve lost one of my lambs,” she said.
Remembering ‘Teddy Napoleon’
Wheeler first met Lipton when he enrolled in the Horizons program at Randolph Middle, a program for gifted children.
He was, she said, the “rare” student who was both “intellectually brilliant” and “emotionally brilliant.”
“Pierre himself was this amazing blend of playfulness and intense academia,” she said. ”He would be gentle and driven at the same time, really caring. The most caring, charming person and, at the same time, absolutely competitive and driven.”
His spirit was exemplified, she said, by the nickname he adopted with pride while in her class: Teddy Napoleon.
“He was really tiny for his age … and he had this adorable face,” she explained. “And the girls started calling him ‘Teddy.’ And he’s, you know, a lot of boys, especially in middle school might have been kind of embarrassed. No, he was delighted by the attention. It was like, take it and run with it. And he called himself ‘Teddy Napoleon.’ He wants world domination.”
Lipton’s father, Jordan Lipton, said he wasn’t surprised to see his son, whom he described as “inquisitive and happy” from birth, flourish in the Horizons program.
His parents recalled with pride how he helped lead Randolph’s National Academic League team to a national title while also participating in WorldQuest while in middle and high school.
“He lived life to the fullest,” his mother, Siu Challons-Lipton, said, “whether he was running or playing soccer or volunteering or learning.”
And his hard work paid off.
Professional success from an early age
After graduating as valedictorian from Myers Park High, Lipton went on to study economics and Middle Eastern studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
He blossomed there, his family said, starting his own company, VitaLives, to help combat malnutrition.
“He was always a starter. He wasn’t ever afraid to be the first person to try something out, and he also wasn’t afraid if it didn’t work out,” his sister, Adelina Lipton, said.
Lipton also was increasingly frustrated with the polarized nature of news coverage and the media.
“It was shocking to him that depending on your political party, that the news that you would receive is completely different,” Adelina Lipton said.
In an effort to create “a better way to get news,” Lipton and two friends created the news company 1440.
“They came up with this partly human driven but also algorithmic way of polling all the major news sources in the world on a given story and choosing the one that’s most centrist,” Jordan Lipton said.
The company earned Lipton, its COO, a spot on Forbes’ “30 under 30” list in 2022.
“With more than 1 million subscribers, 1440 expects to see more than $7 million in revenue this year and has $2.5 million in funding from investors like Cannon Capital, among others,” the magazine wrote.
Even as his career took off, Lipton still made time for friends and family back home in Charlotte, loved ones said.
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A supportive brother and generous friend
The Lipton family enjoy traveling together, they said, to countries such as Iceland and New Zealand.
And no matter where he was in the world, he always made time for his younger sister.
“He was always the most supportive person, and he always looked out for me,” Adelina Lipton said.
Lipton was generous with his time too, the family said, with friends and even strangers.
“He really uplifted his community,” Challons-Lipton said. “He wanted things like wellness days for everyone in his workplace, for all people, for his friends. He always thought about how others lived their life.”
Lipton was an organ donor, his mother said, and a GoFundMe in his name has already raised more than $75,000 that will be donated to causes close to his heart — including food security, the environment and animal welfare.
The family plans to use the fundraiser, Jordan Lipton said, as a launchpad for a nonprofit in Lipton’s name.
“We hope to make sure that his legacy lives on and that he can continue to support causes that he was passionate about,” he said.
‘Pain,’ ‘disbelief,’ and ‘love’ at celebration of life
In the wake of Lipton’s death, his family said they’ve heard a number of stories about his generosity.
Neighbors who recalled him making time to play Pokémon GO with their younger kids when he was home on break from college. A friend who he helped get a new job. Another who he helped get a new air conditioner.
“Above all, he’s just a really kind and supportive person in every facet, whether it’s giving his time, money, resources, anything,” Adelina said.
Wheeler said she was moved to see how many people, including people older than Lipton, called him a “role model” at his celebration of life in mid-February.
“There was a lot of pain and a lot of love in Belk Chapel last Sunday,” she said. A lot of disbelief. But the amount of accomplishments, wisdom and mastery of life’s lessons he had already. … It’s astonishing.”
The number of people mourning his loss is reflective of the impact he had not just on those he knew but the community as a whole, Wheeler said.
“If you had about five Pierres, you’d fix literally everything,” she said. “You’d fix it all.”
