SU senior’s death ruled a suicide
John Morse, a Syracuse University senior, jumped off the Irving Avenue parking garage Friday in what Syracuse police have now ruled a suicide, said Sgt. Tom Connellan.
Morse, 21, was found at 5 a.m. Friday and taken to Crouse Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Connellan said. Morse jumped five stories from the parking garage, located near Sadler Hall, he said. Connellan declined to provide further information at this time.
Morse was not scheduled to graduate with the class of 2009 during this Sunday’s commencement ceremony, said university spokesman Kevin Morrow.
Morse, of Beverly, Mass., was on the Dean’s List last fall in the School of Information Studies, where he majored in information management and technology. He also majored in English and textual studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Morse worked for the past three years at Gate E Operations at the Carrier Dome.
A memorial service has not been planned yet, Morrow said.
Father Linus DeSantis remembers John ‘Jack’ Morse as winsome and a ‘very intelligent’ person who often made poignant comments. But despite this, he had ‘a certain humor about him,’ said DeSantis, of SU’s Alibrandi Catholic Center. He described Morse as a gentle and caring person.
Morse, an active member at the Catholic Center, went on trips with others from the center to rebuild homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina. From these trips, DeSantis recalled Morse’s precision.
‘We dealt with a lot of dry wall and cutting out receptacles where pipes were going to go, and John very attentively and carefully did the job. He was very precise,’ DeSantis said. ‘He never complained about it being a hard job. His time and service was always very freely given.’
Back at the center, Morse would often show up for Thursday night dinners where he and some friends would clean dishes afterward. He always did it without complaining, DeSantis remembered.
‘One time I said, ‘We gotta get other people in here to help,’ and John said, ‘It’s okay Father, we enjoy doing it,” DeSantis said. ‘And that was the kind of service he gave. It was never complaining. It was always free and generous. He would very gently ask, ‘Is there anything I can do?’ John was a good man, a helpful man, a supportive man. He was a generous person.’
Morse was a friend of Allison Nast, a junior television, radio and film major, for three years. He was her neighbor for a year during this time.
‘He was a wonderful, happy person. And he will be greatly missed.’
In a remembrance Web site set up by the iSchool, dean Elizabeth Liddy described Morse as a ‘generous person, an intelligent student, a talented writer, and a witty friend to many on campus,’
For more on John Morse, see The Daily Orange’s May 8 coverage. http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2009/05/07/News/Su.Senior.Dies.After.Fall.From.Parking.Garage-3739110.shtml
Published on May 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm
