LILLY J. M. NGUYEN, 29, a biology major who was in the process of applying to medical school, was killed on Nov. 21, 2010, the innocent victim of a domestic dispute between her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, both of whom died. She was working at Tufts University School of Medicine as a research technician. Among those who survive are her parents, one sister, and several nieces and nephews.
AARON K. THALER, a social services case manager and avid musician, died of a brain tumor on Apr. 24, 2011. He was 28. Despite being diagnosed with a brain tumor during his junior year abroad in South Africa, and all the treatments that followed, he managed to travel to Africa, Israel, South America, and all over America with his family and friends. Within weeks following major surgery in 2009, he hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. As a case manager, he assisted clients disabled by HIV/AIDS. He is survived by his parents, his brother, his paternal grandfather, and a large extended family.
ALEX OKRENT, 29, a political organizer who had worked in presidential campaigns since 2004, died July 13, 2012. Survivors include his parents, Michael Okrent and Lynn Pollack, his sister, his grandmother, and a large extended family.
IAN H. E. HANKS, the co-founder of Hanks Brothers Chinese Trading Company, which sources Chinese products, died Dec. 23, 2011. He was 30. A lymphoma survivor in his teens, he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2005. He was an East Asian Studies major who had been inspired first by a Wesleyan course in Buddhism that piqued his interest in Asia and then by his courses in Mandarin Chinese, in which he became fluent. A Princeton in Asia scholar, he worked as a consultant in Shanghai with Tractus Asia, a management consulting firm, and later moved to Hangzhou, where he and his brother founded their company. He and his wife also provided heart surgery for seven Chinese school children through Project Hope. Among those who survive are his wife, Sandra Hanks; his mother and father; his brother and sister; his grandmother; and his other mother, Tita Dueñas.
PETER B. MORGENSTERN-CLARREN, 22, died on April 23, 2004 by suicide. Peter was active in social justice causes at Wesleyan, including working with Justice for Janitors, Amnesty International, and improving economic conditions for the world’s poor. He also formed the rock band 8 Fingered Jakob with his friends Derek Garcia ’04, Ben Abrams ’03, and Roger Cohen ’03. The band performed on campus at the Naked party, among other gigs. Peter is survived by a family who loved him dearly, including his parents Hadley and Patti, sister Rachel, four grandparents, eight aunts and uncles, and seven first cousins.
SAMUEL V. AARONIAN, an editor and writer, died Apr. 29, 2007. He was 28 and had worked as a project manager for Unison Site Management in New York City. He had also worked in the editorial department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and had been involved in the publication of several books. His parents, one brother, and a large extended family survive.
MICHAEL L. SPIRER, an executive assistant for Houghton-Mifflin, died Jan. 8, 2013. He attended both Wesleyan and the University of Connecticut. Predeceased by his mother, he is survived by his father, Alan Spirer, his adoptive mother, three siblings, and a niece.
