Obituary from Amarillo Globe News:

Last updated; Saturday, May 2, 1998, 7:51 AM Amarillo

Benjamin Gimp RaffkindBenjamin Gimp Raffkind, 25, of Amarillo, died Thursday, April 30, 1998.Graveside services will be at 1 p.m. Monday in Llano Cemetery with Rabbi Martin Levy officiating. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home Inc., 4100 S. Georgia St.Mr. Raffkind was a longtime Amarillo resident. He graduated from Amarillo High School.Survivors include a daughter, Alexis Rene "Lexi" Raffkind of Amarillo; his parents, Myrna and Daniel Raffkind of Amarillo; two sisters, Heidi Jill van Zanten of Katonsville, Md., and Sara Lynn Raffkind of Los Angeles; a brother, Adam Gimp Raffkind of Boulder, Colo.; and his grandparents, Dorothy and Abe Brand of Tulsa.In lieu of flowers, the family request memorials be to a favorite charity.

Article posted by Amarillo Globe News about his accident. See below...

Web posted Saturday, May 2, 1998 7:12 a.m. CT

 

 

By KRIS KELLY

Globe-News Staff Writer

Amarillo police have released the name of the Amarillo man who died Thursday evening in a one-vehicle rollover on westbound Interstate 40.

Benjamin Gimp Raffkind, 25, was pronounced dead at 9:44 p.m. at Northwest Texas Hospital, according to an Amarillo Police Department accident report. Raffkind was injured fatally after his 1995 black BMW M3 went into a slide, hit a curb, and then rolled a number of times before coming to rest on its crushed roof, police said.

Lt. Ed Jones, supervisor of APD's traffic follow-up division, said Raffkind was in the center lane and driving "well in excess of 100 mph" when he made a sudden lane change to the left, then went into the slide that ended in the roll. The vehicle came to rest in the right-hand lane, more than one-fifth of a mile away from where Raffkind began to lose control, Jones said.

According to an APD news release, witnesses reported seeing what might have been a drag race between another vehicle and the BMW before Raffkind's car went out of control as he came over the Paramount Boulevard overpass. The rollover occurred at 7:43 p.m., the report said.

Raffkind was wearing his seat belt, and his airbag deployed, according to the accident report. Jones said police do not believe drugs or alcohol were a factor in the wreck. No autopsy was ordered, Jones said.

Traffic was diverted from westbound I-40 and onto the access road for several hours, and police investigators continued working into the night Thursday to gather information at the scene.