Roch Jauberty, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, is described as having a lively, humble, and optimistic demeanor that gave a great sense of joy to those in his life/PHOTO COURTESY OF DYLAN TURK

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Dylan Turk saw Roch Jauberty not only as a basketball buddy and a roommate, but as a brother.

“There were no barriers with Roch,” Turk said in an email interview. “He was extremely genuine and open-minded with everyone. In that sense, he personally connected with us in a way that I couldn’t feel with others in my life.”

Jauberty, a CAS sophomore at Boston University, died at age 21 in a tragic car crash while studying abroad in New Zealand.

Jauberty majored in economics and international relations with a minor in business administration and management. He was an active member of the BU community as an employee at Warren Towers dining hall and a member of  the International Affairs Association.

Turk recalled playing basketball with Jauberty at BU’s gym during the winter of his freshman year.

“We became close friends ever since and continued to play basketball every week,” he said. “But Roch was a leader on and off the court.”

Together, Jauberty and Turk started an intramural basketball team. By the following year, they had become close friends and roommates.

College of Communication sophomore and Los Angeles native Maddie Rosenberger said the first time she met Jauberty freshman year, he walked in and lit up the room, wearing a Lakers hat that sparked conversation between them.

Rosenberger said she never saw him without a smile, which lit up his whole body and could be seen in his eyes.

“His smile was always huge because that was part of who he was, and he’s never not smiling, and it was impossible to be sad when Roch was around,” she said.

Jauberty was always very sincere, Rosenberger said, and if someone had a problem he would listen.

As a member of the IAA, Roch participated in several IAA conferences, IAA secretary  Caitlin Lesczynski said in an email.

“His enthusiasm for the IAA’s conferences was matched by few others and his absence going forward will be hard for all of us to come to terms with,” Lesczynski, a CAS junior, said. “Roch committed himself wholeheartedly to bettering the experience of the BU student body, and he was a genuine and devoted friend to many.”

While abroad, Jauberty interned at the Sustainable Business Network through the BU study abroad program, said SBN CEO Rachel Brown in a phone interview.

Jauberty worked closely with Greenfleet Programme Manager Mark Roberts on sustainable transport activity and helping SBN with their recent office move.

Roberts described Jauberty as an energetic guy “who preferred [to] bound through life rather than walk.”

“The last time our team saw Roch was when a group of us were going out to dinner after work, we ran into Roch and his friends on their way to play basketball,” Roberts said in an email interview. “Roch was in a bright, happy mood and was overjoyed to run into another group of friends.”

Jauberty showed great dedication to SBN in New Zealand.

“As a small organization, SBN staff need to be able to do that great Kiwi thing of ‘mucking in’ to anything that is going on in an active NGO,” he said. “Nothing was too much trouble for Roch. Roch showed great Kiwi spirit by getting fully involved in the many events run by SBN, including the SBN’s Sustainable Business Forum in March.”

Jauberty ran SBN’s website and social media, Roberts said. He researched examples of how to implement electric vehicles.

“The quality of the research work undertaken by Roch was commented on by other EV project partners, one of whom said, ‘I wish I had a Roch working for me too,’” he said.

Just last week, he said, the two of them drove around Auckland while running various errands for SBN.

“Roch was hugely interested in how the car worked,” Roberts said. “Then we stopped and had meat pies for lunch, something he loved to eat. The whole time we chatted continuously about sport and his favorite basketball team, the LA Lakers.”

Sofia Perez, a political science professor who taught Jauberty, said in an email that he was an excellent and engaged student.

“Roch was very engaged with his studies, an excellent student, very intelligent, affable and very present in class,” Perez said. “He would often talk to me after class about things I had said during lecture and he was very witty.”

Jauberty went out of his way to make sure he was there for people, Turk said, putting a smile on their face every time.

“The deep influence that Roch had will be with me for the rest of my life,” he said, “even on every basketball court that I will ever step on.”

Boston University junior Margaret “Meg” Theriault remains in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon New Zealand time, according to hospital officials.

Theriault is in a medically induced coma following brain surgery Saturday, said Terri Killam, Theriault’s aunt.

“She had brain surgery and they stabilized her from that and put her right arm in place [which was broken],” Killam said. ”Her parents are there, but she is still in an induced coma.”

Theriault was seriously injured and airlifted to the hospital after the car accident Saturday morning in Turangi, New Zealand that killed three and injured five students, according to BU spokesman Colin Riley in an interview with The Daily Free Press Saturday.

Theriault suffered head injuries, a broken arm and grazing to her body, her parents Todd and Deb Theriault of Boston said in a hospital statement.

“She is a fit and stubborn young woman and we know she is getting the best care,” her parents said in the statement.

Theriault was in the vehicle, carrying eight BU students vacationing in New Zealand during their study abroad program, that drifted off the road and proceeded to roll over when the driver corrected for the swerve.

“The emergency services people and the police did an outstanding job given the nature of the accident,” Theriault’s parents said.

Todd and Deb Theriault flew to Waikato Hospital in New Zealand to be with their daughter during this time.

“We’re here now and we’re supporting our daughter for as long as it takes,” they said.

Theriault, 21, is a junior studying business management in the School of Management. She has been interning in Sydney during the Spring 2012 semester, but traveled to New Zealand for vacation before planning to return to the United States later this month.

“It’s a matter of time now,” her parents said in the statement. “We’d be grateful if you could respect our privacy while we spend time with our daughter and help her to recover.”

Theriault’s parents are assured their daughter is in good care in Waikato Hospital and are thinking of the families of those who died in the crash.

“Firstly our thoughts and prayers are with those families who have lost loved ones in the accident,” the Theriaults stated. “We know what they are going through and what it’s like to receive such devastating news from the other side of the world.”

Killam said she is unsure as to how long Meg will be in a coma.

“No news is good news, but no news is not good enough,” she said. “We’re all just praying and hoping.”

A 20-year-old student remains in stable condition at Rotorua Hospital while the 21-year-old woman has now been discharged from there.

The two 20-year-old students, a man and a woman who were brought to Taupo Hospital were treated and discharged quickly.

“We played really, really well all weekend,” said BU coach Shawk Rychcik. “We played some of our best ball of the year. Really under a tough situation, a lot of pressure and a lot of stress trying to win at home.”

After being pushed back a day because of rain, the tournament opened on Friday with an afternoon game between the Terriers and fourth seeded Maine. The Terriers’ 3-2 victory came largely at the hands of a three-run homer by senior first baseman Melanie Delgado and dominant middle three innings by sophomore pitcher, and the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, Holli Floetker.

The Black Bears opened the game against the Terriers with two hits in the first two innings but were unable to score. BU scored all three of its runs off of one hit in the bottom of the second when Delgado knocked a two-out homer over the wall in left field.

After a single to right by senior second baseman Emily Roesch and an infield single by sophomore catcher Amy Ekart, Delgado put the Terriers on the board for the first and only time with her home run.

Floetker allowed a two-run home run in the top of the third, but went on to shut down her opponents, not allowing a hit for three innings after the home run. Though she ran into trouble in the top of the seventh, Floetker held the lead for the Terriers as they walked off with a win.

Floetker improved her record on the season to 18-3 and allowed six hits in the opening game of the tournament as the Terriers advanced to the semifinals.

In their second game, the Terriers defeated Stony Brook 7-3 in a matchup marked by back-and-forth play and smart base-running. Junior pitcher Whitney Tuthill picked up her 14th win of the season in a complete-game effort.

BU took the lead in the top of the first when after being hit by a pitch and advancing to third after two more walks, sophomore right fielder Jayme Mask scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore center fielder Chelsea O’Connor.

“Stony Brook was back-and-forth early,” Rychcik said. “They really swung the bats well and we were just able to get a big hit late.”

Stony Brook tied the score up quickly in the bottom of the first. The game would remain tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the third when Stony Brook took a 2-1 lead. Thanks to a solo home run by freshman designated hitter Mandy Fernandez, BU tied the score in the top of the fourth. The Terriers scored again in each of the remaining innings.

A sacrifice fly by Brittany Clendenny in the top of the fifth and then a solo home run in the top of the sixth by Ekart gave the Terriers a lead they would never surrender.

The Terriers’ opponents came within one again in the bottom of the sixth when Tuthill found herself in a bases-loaded jam with no outs after allowing a run. However, she forced the Seawolves to hit into three straight ground-outs to preserve the Terrier’s lead.

With three runs in the top of the seventh, including a two-run double by Roesch, BU solidified its 7-3 victory and advanced to the championship game against Albany, the team that defeated them in the same matchup last season.

Floetker posted her sixth shutout of the season in the Terrier’s 5-0 victory over Albany to claim the America East title and advance to the NCAA Regionals. Her two wins played a significant role in her along with teammates Clendenny, Mask, and Ekart being named to the all-tournament team. Mask and Clendenny both had two hits and Ekart had two RBIs in the Terrier’s victory.

“I think there’s a number of people that could have been MVP that weekend,” Rychcik said. “We had lots who played really well. [Holli’s] two wins were huge for us… But I could see someone else winning it that was very important for us.”

After being shut down in the top of the first inning, the Terriers were threatened in the bottom of the inning when Albany put a runner on third. Floetker worked herself out of the spot and BU went on to score twice in the top of the second.

With two on, Ekart hit a double to clear the bases, putting the Terriers on the board for the first time. Despite threatening again in the third after hits by Mask and Clendenny, the Terriers were unable to plate a base runner.

“You get to the championship game,” Rychcik said. “You know you’re close and just don’t want to lose that opportunity being that close. So there’s a ton of pressure that game.”

BU broke the game open for good with a three-run fifth inning. Casacci opened the inning with a base hit and advanced to second on a wild pitch. A single by sophomore third baseman Megan Volpano put runners at the corners and Clendenny knocked Casacci home.

The runners advanced after a sacrifice fly before the Great Danes changed their pitcher. The pitching change didn’t do much good for Albany after a single by Roesch scored Volpano. Roesch advanced on the throw and then took home after a wild pitch, putting the Terriers up 5-0 to close the inning.

Floetker retired nine straight batters to close the game and secure the America East championship for BU.

With the victory the Terriers will advance to the NCAA Regional in Berkeley, Calif. There, the Terriers, ranked No. 3 in their bracket, will face the University of Arkansas on May 18. It is the first time BU softball has ever gotten a No. 3 seed.

“We’re really excited about our draw,” Rychcik said. “Getting a No. 3 seed, you know. We’ve worked really hard and we’ve played a good schedule.”

Friends and faculty said College of Engineering junior Austin Brashears had a love for life and a passion for working on alternative energy projects/PHOTO BY NATALIE BOYLE

This is the second in a series of obituaries on the three Boston University students killed in a tragic car accident while studying abroad in New Zealand.

To friends and professors of Austin Brashears, a junior in Boston University’s College of Engineering who embraced school and served as a president of the BU men’s club water polo team, he was an adventurous traveler and a promising engineer.

 “He was just an adventurer,” said Sage Russo, a San Francisco State University junior who met Brashears in ninth grade. “He just wanted to go out and live life to its absolute fullest.”

Brashears, 21, was one of three BU students who died in a car crash in Taupo, New Zealand, a place College of Arts and Sciences junior Tori Pinheiro said he had always dreamed of visiting.

“He loved traveling everywhere,” Pinheiro, Brashears’s close friend and former girlfriend, said. “His dream was to go to New Zealand. He has been talking about New Zealand since the day I met him.”

Brashears, from Huntington Beach, Calif., majored in mechanical engineering, with a minor in energy technologies and environmental engineering.

He was fascinated with alternative power sources, including geothermal and wind, and avidly researched the energy policies and technologies of other countries, Pinheiro said.

“He was the smartest kid I’ve ever met,” she said. “I’ve never met [someone] so well informed about so many topics. He was an amazing engineer but he knew a little bit about everything.”

Pinheiro said she met Brashears on her first day at BU orientation. They immediately clicked as friends and did everything together, she said.

Pinheiro would always do laundry in Warren Towers with Brashears, who would “accidentally” throw a t-shirt in her laundry, she said, creating an excuse to see her later.

Sargent College of Health and Rehabiliation Sciences first-year graduate student Jeremy Butz, a teammate on the water polo team, said in an email that Brashears embraced all of his teammates.

“As well as being an extremely gifted and hardworking player, Austin was the most passionate teammate I have ever played with,” he said. “He was our team’s spark, never lacked a motivational speech, and always led by example.”

Russo said she witnessed Brashears’s popularity after she set up a Facebook page to raise funds in order to fly him back to the United States for a burial.

Within 24 hours, the page had more than 850 attendees.

“I knew that Austin would be the kind of person that would elicit this type of response,” Russo said. “We have gotten love and support from all corners of the world.”

An incredible student, Brashears had straight A’s throughout high school, landed on the honor roll and was the person whom everybody asked for tutoring, she said.

“Austin always had the answer, whether it was academic or personal,” Russo said.

Brashears was scheduled to oversee student advisors for the freshmen advising course for engineering students, said ENG Dean Kenneth Lutchen in a phone interview.

“He was a leader, and he energized and sparked all those around him to get involved and help make the engineering experience that much more positive for everyone else – students and faculty,” he said.

Uday Pal, an engineering professor who taught Brashears in Introduction to Environmental Engineering, said Brashears was very competitive in class, but in a good way.

If Brashears did not get the highest score, Pal said, he would ask how he could improve it, even though Pal told him he only got two marks shy of the highest score.

He still would want to know why he got two marks fewer, Pal said.

“He really wanted to improve and be on top, and that was him,” he said.

Pal said Brashears worked on two projects under his supervision. One project Brashears worked on with a graduate student focused on recycling nuclear waste.

Brashears worked on another project with an undergraduate student that involved the construction of a module for energy storage and conversion, which Pal plans to use for his Clean Energy class next semester, he said.

Pal said he remembers Brashears’s drive to excel.

“The one thing that really sticks out is that . . . when he entered my office, I knew that we [were] going to have a discussion on the subject,” Pal said, “and he would want to know . . . it was always, ‘What can I do to improve? What can I do to excel?’”

Brashears scored the highest in Professor Soumendra Basu’s Introduction to Energy Technologies class and was at the top of his own class, Pal said.

“I think he could have really done whatever he wanted to do,” he said. “It’s such a loss, such a loss.”

ENG junior Jarrod Milshtein met Brashears freshman year and said he was one of the first people he could trust to work with on a higher level.

“He was probably the brightest kid I met in my major,” he said.

Milshtein said they did a 20-page research paper together in two days.

“We both sat down two nights in a row and had a blast writing together, side by side in the computer lab,” he said. “He knew how to have a good time all the time.”

In a statement on the Facebook fundraising page, the Brashears family said additional funds will establish a scholarship for students who love club sports as much as their son did.

“Austin always had a way of bringing people together – banding together like you all have is truly a fitting tribute,” the statement read.

Anyone may donate by visiting the page, titled “Fundraising to Bring Our Austin Back Home.”

Amelia Pak-Harvey and Samantha Tatro contributed to the reporting of this article.

Friends and professors of Daniela Lekhno said they could not find enough words to describe the Boston University junior who was a great friend, student and writer.

Lekhno died in the tragic car accident in New Zealand Saturday while studying abroad in Auckland.

“She had so much potential and so many gifts, this just isn’t how it was supposed to be,” said Hope Thomason, a College of Arts and Sciences junior and close friend of Lekhno.

PHOTO COURTESY HOPE THOMASON

Friends said they have trouble finding words that do justice to the amazing writer and person that Lekhno was.

“There is and will never be anyone like Daniela. She was selfless, and incredibly beautiful. She cared for her friends better than anyone I know,” said CAS junior Madeline Baker, another close friend of Lekhno.

Daniela was a beautiful writer, Thomason said, describing even her text messages of advice as worthy of publishing. She was also a kind and caring friend.

“With D I always knew I was never alone, she always had my back,” Thomason said. “I don’t know what I would have done without her the last few years and now I just can’t imagine anything without her.”

From Manalapan, N.J., 20-year-old Daniela was studying business administration and management with a concentration in finance in the School of Management, said SMG Dean Kenneth Freeman.

Lekhno was one of the “most impressive and memorable” of SMG professor David Randall’s students, Randall said.

During their first class, Daniela appeared to not be paying attention, he said. Then she responded brilliantly to a question—showing she had not only been listening, but had been thoughtfully preparing and analyzing the discussion the whole time.

“This was no fluke,” Randall said. “Daniela’s acute intelligence, common sense and strong personality made her a classroom leader.”

Randall said he had hoped to have Lekhno again as a student.

“She raised everyone’s game, including my own,” he said.

Thomason also described Lekhno as intelligent, calling her among the smartest people she knew.

“She was always lifting us up, but at the same time keeping us in check,” Thomason said. “She was the best person to have a debate with. She was so quick and could keep a debate going on for hours.”

Baker echoed the sentiment, saying Daniela was “amazingly smart and so capable.”

“She knew how to work hard and she knew how to enjoy the beautiful things in this life,” Baker said. “I will never be the same after knowing and learning from her.”

Baker remembers Daniela as a selfless, beautiful person, who would give of herself to come to the rescue of her friends.

“She was wonderful with words, giving sage advice and perspective in a way that made you question whether she was really a 20-year-old girl who liked to wear floral,” Baker said.

Someone who loved roses, green apples and John Mayer, Daniela was “so classy and beautiful,” Thomason said.

Thomason remembers staying up all night together dancing around their suite singing songs and going to a cafe to do homework.

“She was always so much fun . . . there was never a dull moment,” Thomason said.

Lekhno was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority and mock trial during her freshman year at BU.

She will be remembered as an exceptional student who was very passionate about her studies, Freeman said.

“We will miss her presence at the school, inside and outside the classroom,” he said.

Baker said the loss is heartbreaking.

“She will never fade into our memories, but will always be pushing us on with the light she gave to all of us while we were with her,” she said.

Barwise qualified for the trials during the East Coast Athletic Conference Championship at Princeton University with a jump of 1.87 meters. The leap, which is second in the NCAA this season, gave Barwise an automatic ‘A’ standard for the trials and was just short of BU’s record.

The next best high jump during the championships was a mark of 1.75 meters by AlisonDay from Monmouth University.

Barwise’s qualification comes after an impressive junior season. The Orange, Conn., native had the conference-best mark in the high jump, with 1.80 meters, and in the heptathlon, with 5014 points, during the outdoor season. Barwise then set a conference record in the high jump with a leap of 1.82 meters at the America East Championships.

She then received the Coaches’ Award at the America East Championships as she had accumulated the most points out of any female competitor.

Most recently, Barwise was named a U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association First Team All-American in the high jump after she finished fifth in the NCAA Championships with a jump of 1.81 meters.

Candles lit on marsh plaza for vigil remembering BU students killed in NZ crash. AMELIA PAK-HARVEY/DFP STAFF

College of Arts and Sciences junior Tori Pinheiro said the first time she met Austin Brashears, one of the victims of a car crash in New Zealand, he told her the scar on his face was from a shark bite, although she later learned it was from a surfboard hit to the face.

“That pretty much sums up Austin, he’s just an amazing person,” Pinheiro said, “and I had the privilege of being his best friend, and he was mine for the next year, and year after that, and year after that, and to this day.”

Pinheiro read a letter she wrote for Austin, one of three students killed in the car crash, at a candlelight vigil held on Saturday evening at Marsh Plaza that commemorated the students killed in the crash.

“You were the love of my life and we made each other so happy, and I never experienced a joy like I had with you,” she read. “We opened the doors to the world for each other and had to part ways to experience it.”

Boston University students gathered at Marsh Plaza to remember College of Engineering junior Brashears, CAS sophomore Roch Jauberty and School of Management junior Daniela Lekhno, all who died in a car crash this weekend while studying abroad.

The five BU students injured from the crash include SMG junior Margaret Theriault, CAS freshman Emily Melton, CAS senior Kathy Moldawer, School of Hospitality Administration junior Stephen Houseman and SMG junior Alys McAlpine.

Marsh Chapel Dean Robert Hill said senior Katie Matthews, who helped organize the vigil, might have thought that gathering everyone together would help everyone start not to understand, but to accept “what has befallen us.”

“We don’t understand, but we begin to accept when we find the courage to withstand what we cannot understand, the power to withstand what we cannot understand, even the faith to withstand what we cannot understand,” Hill said. “In that sense we are gathering to begin with the work of acceptance.”

Matthews said if there is anything her four years at BU has taught her, it is that communities must support each other.

“In light of this devastating tragedy, we must come together in order to heal,” she said. “Your presence here tonight is a testament to the strength of our community.”

CAS senior Julie Hirsch, Lekhno’s big sister in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, said the two used to joke that they were paired together because they both loved literature.

Hirsch said Lekhno could go from making highbrow Shakespeare jokes to singing, “Biggie Biggie Biggie, can’t you see?”

“She deserved the happiest ending that you always read in the books,” Hirsch said, “and she deserved the ending that the beautiful girls always get because she was beautiful.”

ENG junior Blake Wrobbel said he first met Jauberty a few years ago in California.

“I was speaking to one of my good friends today . . . and he said Roch was there because Roch lived the way he wanted to live, not how someone else ever wanted him to live,” Wrobbel said, “but he was living by his standards and he was living his dreams.”

After students had a chance to remember their friends through anecdotes, they observed a moment of silence while lighting candles to remember their loved ones.

Tom Murphy, an ENG senior who also went to pay his respects, said he worked with Brashears during orientation.

“He was always very happy, very exciting individual, there was never a dull moment when you were around him, and he was always very comforting,” he said, “and he always could help you out if you were having a problem too.”

BU President Robert Brown, who also spoke at the vigil, said the vigil was wonderful and spontaneous.

“We were running around scrambling today wondering if anything could be done and the students pulled it together which is really wonderful,” he said in an interview with The Daily Free Press.

Brown said in a small city, tragic things happen to good people, but the community has to “hold together and learn how to grieve and learn how to get past it and look at all the wonderful things the community’s doing.”

In an email sent to the BU community, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Virginia Sapiro said CAS sophomore Roch Jauberty, School of Management junior Daniela Lekhno and College of Engineering junior Austin Brashears died in the accident.

CAS freshman Emily Melton, CAS senior Kathy Moldawer, School of Hospitality Administration junior Stephen Houseman and SMG junior Alys McAlpine sustained non-life threatening injuries, Sapiro said.

SMG junior Margaret Theriault was seriously injured and airlifted to the hospital, BU spokesman Colin Riley said.

“Obviously she’s in our prayers and we hope she is able to recover from her injuries . . . hopefully they all make a full recovery from their injuries,” he said.

He said Dustin Holstein, an SMG junior, was not injured in the accident as a correction to Sapiro’s letter.

Riley said all of the students but Theriault were involved in BU’s study abroad program in Auckland. He said Theriault was visiting from BU’s study abroad program in Sydney, Australia.

In a letter sent to students, BU President Robert Brown said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of the students.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of the three young people who have lost their lives,” he said. “We are also holding the injured students close in our thoughts and prayers.”

Brown said the Global Programs staff, the Office of the Dean of Students, Marsh Chapel, the Office of the President and the provost are dedicated to handling the situation.

The students were traveling in a van in the town of Taupo when their vehicle swerved off the road, The Daily Free Press previously reported.

Riley said investigators claim the vehicle rolled over.

A number of vehicles were traveling in a group, but only one was involved in the accident, Riley said to the Free Press.

Riley said the students were on a student-organized hiking and exploration trip, and there were no BU program staff present.

“We received a call from people who were traveling with them about the accident,” he said. “Then the vice consul and U.S. consulate was very helpful and reached out to us and provided most of the details of what we’ve learned.”

Riley said two of the five injured students have been released from the hospital.

BU Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said the school has already been in touch with students in New Zealand and offered them counseling sessions.

Elmore said this type of incident gives everyone a pause to stop and think about who and what is important in life.

“In terms of the community, I think what is commendable is that this community comes forward every time and responds every time quite well,” he said. “We have faculty, we have staff who have stepped forward to give remembrances of beautiful, wonderful people who we lost.”

Students organized a vigil on Marsh Plaza on Saturday evening, Elmore said.

The vigil is a way for everyone “to show the gratitude that we have [for] three remarkable young people who embraced us a community and who we embraced as a community,” he said.

Elmore said the ceremony is meant to remind the injured students that the BU community is still thinking of them and wishing them a speedy recovery.

“Everyone is welcome,” Sapiro said. “Counselors will be available from both health and religious services.”

Riley said he hoped the community would come together for support.

“[We want to] make sure that everyone be there for other students and recognize what a terrible tragedy this is and that there’s a lot of people who may need some comfort,” he said.

Both Marsh Chapel chaplains and Student Health Services are offering emotional support, Sapiro said.

Despite a string of unfortunate events at BU this year, Elmore said this accident deserves its own attention.

“This is about trying to make sure that we are providing the assistance to some students and their families that they need and the ability to listen to some students who are really hurting and troubled right now,” he said.

Amelia Pak-Harvey contributed to the writing of this article.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said one student was “seriously injured,” three students were killed and the remaining students were “less seriously injured” in the accident, citing information BU received through the U.S. Consulate in New Zealand.

The seriously injured student was airlifted to a hospital, Riley said.

The car with the students swerved off the road in Taupo, a city in New Zealand south of Auckland on the country’s North Island, Riley said. Several vehicles were traveling together, but only one vehicle was involved in the crash.

“[Families are] being notified by the U.S. Consulate and [the families] will know before [BU] make their names public,” Riley said.

Riley said students were likely in their third year of university and in their 20’s, but he could not confirm their ages. He also could not confirm the programs or schools in which the students were enrolled.

“[This is a] terrible tragedy, and it’s just heartbreaking for their families and for the students,” Riley said. “[We are] going to reach out to those students who were in New Zealand and offer counseling to those students on the east campus who were associated with them.”

Kevin Martin, the director for BU’s Auckland programs, said in an email that he could not offer any comment at this time.

The Turangi, New Zealand police, were unable to confirm further details.

Jill, one of Totenberg’s three daughters, said she recalls him enjoying a glass of vodka on one of his final days.

“He was not eating or drinking anything, and I said to him, ‘Daddy, would you like a vodka?’ and his head shook yes,” she said. “He took two large gulps out of the shot glass and looked so happy. It was just who he was. He enjoyed every part of life and every sip right until the end.”

She also described her father as amazingly personable.

“Anybody who met him immediately fell in love with him,” she said. “He had this graciousness and openness that made everyone feel extremely special.”

Totenberg, who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1911, began taking violin lessons at age six, according to a biography on his website. He performed on the streets in Revolution-era Russia and performed to help feed his family.

Totenberg fled to Paris in 1932, as Adolf Hitler rose to power. After numerous tours across the world, he moved to the United States

Joining the BU faculty in 1961, Totenberg taught violin and eventually became chairman of the string department.

Totenberg had three daughters, including Jill, president and CEO of The Totenberg Group, a communications and marketing firm; Nina, a correspondent for National Public Radio; and Amy, a U.S. District Court judge.

Nina described her father and his teaching style as “receptive” and kind.

“He really was the gentlest and most receptive of souls,” Nina said. “He would always pat boys and girls on the cheek as if to say ‘you count, it’s alright.’”

CFA Dean Benjamín Juárez said Totenberg was familiar with influential musicians such as Igor Stravinsky and Arthur Rubinstein as well as older composers.

“He had direct connections to the great writers of the 19th century, and through his students who are some of the most prominent violinists of our time,” Juárez said. “He has a very big presence in the 21st century. He’s a rare artist that really bridges three centuries.”

Totenberg committed much of his life to teaching at BU and improving its musical programs. World-renowned violinists such as Mira Wang and Yevegny Kutik studied with Totenberg

“I think that his greatest contribution [to the BU community is his love for music, how even after he turned 100, he was still an active member of our faculty,” Juárez said. “His love for music and teaching was present to his very last hours.”

Nina said she hopes people remember her father for both his personality and talent.

“I hope people remember both his violin virtuosity and his great musicianship and his devotion to his students,” she said.

Jill said people could learn how to live from her father’s legacy.

“I’d like them to remember him for his generosity and generosity of spirit,” she said. “It’s a quality so many people don’t have today. It would be a great lesson for many people to have.”

Juárez said he will miss his personal relationship with Totenberg.

“Meeting him and going regularly to visit him at home and to share a glass of wine or a glass of vodka with him was really a very precious gift and I will always keep him very close to my heart and as a role model of what a life in music can look like,” he said.

A BU memorial service will be held for Totenberg sometime around September, Juárez said, when his former students and friends can be organized to attend.