32 Year-Old Div. School Student Found Dead

Jeff R. Dagenbach, 32, a Harvard Divinity School student and a teaching fellow at the College, died Tuesday night from a sudden aortic rupture.

Dagenbach's roommate found him on the floor of his apartment at 11 p.m. Tuesday night and called 911. A Cambridge police officer pronounced Mr. Dagenbach dead.

Friends remember him as a loving man with a keen sense of humor.

"He was a very, very good person. He was so full of life," said Alexander D. Hurt, a second-year Divinity School student and friend of Dagenbach.

"He was a person who had a very, very deep sense of caring and spirit, and we're going to miss him very much."

Dagenbach was scheduled to receive his Masters in Theological Studies degree in June. He received a B.A. with honors in religion from Concordia University in Montreal in 1993.

"This tragic event has stunned the Divinity School community, and we extend our deepest sympathy to the Dagenbach family and to Jeff's many friends," Darryl M. Smaw, director of student life at the Divinity School, said in a statement yesterday.

Dagenbach was a weekend supervisor at the Divinity School's Andover-Harvard Library, according to Karin E. Medin a library assistant.

"He was a very dynamic person," Medin said. "He was a very valued part of our staff. We are all very saddened by his death."

Dagenbach was also a teaching fellow at Harvard and a comedian, according to Medin. She said he performed in local comedy clubs with a group of Divinity School friends. He also participated in the Harvard Theological Revue, the Divinity School's annual comedy show.

Clarissa W. Atkinson, associate dean for academic affairs at the Divinity School, said last night that the Divinity School will hold a memorial service for Dagenbach. The date and time of the service have not been finalized.