Friends of Adam Robert Engel remembered the School of Management junior’s fun-loving, friendly and confident nature in a ceremony on Monday.
About 80 Boston University students and community members gathered on the fourth floor of Hillel House for a service honoring the late 19-year-old student.
Engel, an honors student and business administration major from Old Bethpage, NY, died Sept. 4 from injuries suffered from a fall in the Doubletree Guest Suites Boston. No foul play was suspected, according to Boston Police Department officials.
At the service, friends and classmates shared their memories of Engel with attendees.
“I met Adam on the first day of class,” said SMG junior Laurel Bennis. “He was surrounded by girls, and I thought, “Wow, this kid is so confident.’ His smile and his laugh and his hugs and kisses always made you feel all right. It’s up to us to continue his memory and legacy…and know he will never die in our hearts.”
College of Arts and Sciences senior Paul Foster told the crowd about his close relationship with Engel.
“He was like a little brother to me,” he said.
Northeastern University sophomore Jackie Ferrante said she and Engel struck up their friendship “randomly” while in high school.
“He always listened to my long and boring Jackie stories and teased me afterward, but he still listened,” she said. “I knew he was always only a T stop away…he will always be there.”
SMG junior Jessica Meisel shared anecdotes about having class with Engel.
“Having Adam next to me in class made it much more fun,” she said. “He was always drawing hearts and smiley faces on my notes. He made me feel more confident and comfortable to be myself.”
After the students’ tributes to their friend, Foster presented a slideshow of pictures showing Engel at various stages of his life, from a child engaging in toddler-like antics to a grown man hanging out with his friends.
Although he said he did not know him very well, Joseph Polak, a rabbi at Hillel House, said he remembered Engel from Hillel events and BU’s Birthright trip in December of 2009.
Polak said Engel would be missed by all.
“Anybody that young who had gotten so many people to love him is going to leave a very big hole,” he said.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
