Seen through photo slideshows and a home video, Stephen Adelipour’s memorial service yesterday was more a celebration of the 22-year-old’s life than a reminder of his death.
Family and friends gathered on the fourth floor of the Florence ‘ Chavetz Hillel House to pay their final respects to Adelipour, whom friends called Stefan. The memorial, organized by the Dean of Students Office and the Hillel House, showed how Adelipour’s memory still managed to bring smiles to his friends’ and families’ faces.
Reading from her son’s journal during the service, Adelipour’s mother, Sohaila Adelipour, said that without friends and family, “You can’t do anything.”
Adelipour, a School of Management senior from Great Neck, N.Y., died in a fire in his 21 Aberdeen St. apartment Feb 24. Rhiannon McCuish, 21, of Mashpee, was also killed in the fire.
“There wasn’t even enough room at the first [memorial service],” said Adelipour’s friend Benjamin Movtady, a College of Arts and Science senior. “He always was a great friend. His memory and love will definitely outlast his days.”
To honor her son, Sohaila Adelipour created the Stefan Adelipour for Life Foundation, a charity organization that will annually donate to burn victims, fire education and college students struggling with tuition.
“Nothing can overcome memories and good deeds,” Adelipour’s mother said. “We have to keep his memory alive. His memory can still make a difference.”
Judicial Affairs Director Daryl DeLuca said the Feb 24. fire had made BU’s large and sometimes impersonal campus come a little closer.
“He took pride in being friends with people from different backgrounds,” Movtady said. “People came together for him.”
Adelipour’s friends described him as someone who “lived life to the fullest” with an “uncontainable energy.”
Jonathan DiBenedetto, a School of Management senior, said Adelipour was usually the center of attention. Instead of just drawing in those around him, Adelipour showed others to live with “the same lust for life,” DiBenedetto said.
“If Stefan knew he was going to die at 22, he would have [still] lived his life the way he lived it,” he said.
Adelipour’s friends described him as someone who could strike up conversations effortlessly. Movtady recalled an instance when Adelipour saved him from a parking ticket by sweet talking an officer.
“He liked to push envelopes,” DiBenedetto said.
Adelipour bungee jumped and sky dived while studying abroad through the BU Sydney Internship Program last spring. After studying in Australia, Adelipour traveled solo to Thailand and Cambodia.
“This is a terribly difficult time for all his friends,” Movtady said. “Knowing he lived life to the fullest every day makes [his death] easier to cope with.”
Although the Jewish community’s period of mourning has ended, BU will continue to offer counseling for students through Student Health Services, DeLuca said.