We were shaken to hear of the tragic death of our classmate Alejandro “Alex” Carrion ’08, who passed away in his sleep last Thursday. The heartbreaking news of Alex’s untimely death has shaken the entire Fairfield community to the core. As college students, we are rarely aware of our own mortality. Alex’s death, which came just days after he celebrated his 20th birthday, is a sobering reminder of how precious life really is.
Carrion, a Miami, Fla., native, was actively involved in the Fairfield community. A politics major, he was also a member of the Ignatian Residential College, College Republicans, and was a guitarist in the university Pep Band. Like many college students, Alex enjoyed movies, poker and music; but unlike many college students, he actively and willingly dedicated his time to the betterment of this school. His family has said that, more than anything, he loved Fairfield and the friendships that he made here.
It is abundantly clear, from the dozens of mourners who gathered in Egan Chapel last Friday for Alex’s memorial mass, to the makeshift memorial erected in Loyola Hall in his honor, to the men’s basketball team’s wins dedicated in his honor, that Alex Carrion had a far-reaching, positive impact on Fairfield University.
Friends described him as one of the kindest, most talented, and dedicated people they knew. Professors said that he always offered them a smile. On a bustling college campus, where it can seem hard to take the time to stop and smile at a stranger, losing someone like Alex, who friends say went out of his way to make people happy, is truly tragic.
Death tears the fabric of a small, personal community such as Fairfield like no other event. The Mirror extends its most sincere condolences to Alex Carrion’s family and friends during this time of tragic loss. Let us, the Fairfield community, not only mourn the loss of one of our peers, but celebrate Alex’s life and the positive impact that he had on his friends, his family and his school.
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