Karie Kading Ramsey and Richie Hurd have a lot in common. Their fathers built successful real estate and development companies from scratch, for one thing. Like their dads, both work hard. Ramsey is CEO of Kading Properties. Hurd is vice president with Hurd Real Estate Services. They can take on a big task, and that ability helped pay a record-setting reward this year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Another thing they have in common is that their lives have been touched by the blood cancers the nonprofit is battling. The LLS has an annual fundraiser where the man and woman who raise the most money are named Man of the Year and Woman of the Year. Together, all of the contestants raised $1 million, a record. Ramsey raised $301,000; Hurd raised $331,000. Ramsey has been attending the LLS gala for the last nine years, after a friend’s son was diagnosed with leukemia. Three years ago, her 3-year-old cousin was diagnosed with the disease. Hurd’s sister, Jamie, died in 2009 of a pulmonary embolism. She was 29 and had been in remission after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at age 25. Her twin sister, Kristin, became an LLS ambassador. Richie Hurd ran his campaign on Jamie’s behalf. Both Ramsey and Hurd put on sophisticated campaigns. Both sponsored golf tournaments. Hurd’s campaign website has a list of individual and corporate donors that scrolls computer screen after computer screen. Ramsey said her “thank you list” is in the mid-800s. Though Ramsey and Hurd raised a majority of the $1 million, they obviously didn’t raise it all. The other Central Iowa Man and Woman of the Year candidates were Cassidy Farnsworth, Cory Gourley, Noah Janssen, Candi Ladwig and Sara Pyatt. Pyatt was named All-Star of the Year. The Iowa chapter’s inaugural Student of the Year honor went to Janssen, a 2018 graduate of Johnston High School, who raised more than $50,000.