DRACUT - Benjamin Appleman of Dracut died on April 29th, 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, surrounded by his family. Benjamin had been born with congenital heart disease and succumbed to the illness just after his 30th birthday. He had numerous open-heart surgeries, valve replacements, and other related procedures from the time he was 6 months old. All of his outstanding care and support were done at MGH under the management of his cardiologists, Dr. Richard Liberthson and Dr. Ami Bhatt. His major surgeries were always performed by preeminent cardiac surgeon Dr. Gus Vlahakes. The entire medical team at MGH, including the specialized nurses that work in the various wards he stayed in, often for months at a time, were instrumental in maintaining his health and comfort. Benjamin was a 2004 graduate of Tewksbury Memorial high School. He pursued a Computer Science degree at Umass Lowell. He excelled at both assembling and maintaining computer hardware, and programming software at all levels. He was a serious gamer - and spent a great deal of time on line, playing games and writing mods. Benjamin loved cooking. He was especially fond of foods from his heritage, including Japanese sushi, ramen, and kare rice, as well as Jewish knishes, kishka, and matzohball soup. Due to salt restrictions during his last year, Ben created many salt-free dishes and was working on a low-salt cookbook.

Benjamin was loved by friends and family and will be greatly missed. He is survived by his father and mother, David and Linda Appleman of Dracut, his brothers Isaac and Samuel Appleman of Haverhill and Lowell, and his niece, Ariyama Appleman.