Amy Muriel Rupe, 38: Civic volunteer had plans for spring wedding

"She loved Atlanta," said her mother, Ann Rupe Glass of Topsham, Maine. "I could have never gotten her out of Atlanta. She would tell me all the things she did with charities like Habitat for Humanity. However she could help, she did it in Atlanta."

When she first moved here, Ms. Rupe waited tables for several months at Atlanta Fish Market. Then she became manager of Buckhead Billiards, a job she held five years. She, and her boyfriend at the time, moved to Albuquerque, N.M. briefly, but returned to the city when he suffered a debilitating construction accident.

In 2000, she was hired by Lehman Brothers as a senior sales assistant, a post she held nine years before joining Credit-Suisse Bank. At Lehman Brothers, Ms. Rupe was awarded the firm's President's Award, said Phil Yagoda, now a managing director at Deutsche Bank.

"She was recognized at the firm's highest level for her contributions to charity events and all those philanthropic endeavors," he said. "Her kind heart and spirit went way beyond what anyone could feel or know. It was truly part of her makeup. She gave 150 percent."

About two years ago, Ms. Rupe met her fiance, Nicolas Ambrosini. The couple had planned to wed April 10.

"A lot of her brothers and sisters live in different states," he said. "Her dream was to bring the family together because her father passed away a few years ago."

On Jan. 31 around 6 a.m., Ms. Rupe awoke to chest pains. The couple was en route to Piedmont Hospital when she lost consciousness. Amy Muriel Rupe of Atlanta died from a blood clot. She was 38. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at The Cathedral of St. Philip. Wages & Sons, Gwinnett Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

In 1990, Ms. Rupe graduated from Ontario High in Oregon. She enrolled at Mary Baldwin College after attending school in Australia as an exchange student. In college, she was an Asian studies research assistant and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was an exchange student at Oxford College and the Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts in Japan.

In 2005, Dallas Gordon "Guy" Rupe IV of Payette, Idaho, was diagnosed with leukemia at 12. Ms. Rupe did whatever necessary to cheer and motivate her brother during nearly four years of chemotherapy. She called often, and went to great lengths to get gifts that inspired.

"She made endless calls to bands and celebrities to get things," Mr. Yagoda said. "I recall drum sticks from some band, and a guy from Blink-182 sent T-shirts and stuff. I can't describe how she went to bat for him and the positive energy she reflected."

And she'll continue to give through the Amy's Way Foundation, a charity the family plans to establish. It will collect "inspirational memorabilia" for children in need, her mother said.

"We lost a beautiful vibrant woman," she said. "She gave all she could give."

Additional survivors include three brothers, Sean Rupe of Payette, Idaho; Larry Horyna of Denver, Colo.; and Garrett Fichtner of Albuquerque, N.M.; and a sister, Robin Rupe of Albuquerque, N.M.