Annelle Fitzpatrick

Annelle Fitzpatrick, Class of 2000--a member of the 1996-97 women's lacrosse team, a resident of Leverett House and a former student government president at Manhattan's Trinity School--died Jan. 2, 1998 in New York City. She was 19 years old.

Investigators termed Fitzpatrick's death an apparent suicide. She was struck by a northbound subway train in midtown Manhattan at night.

At the time of her death, friends remembered the New York native as a leader among her peers and a dynamic, friendly presence in their classes.

Long-time friend and Trinity classmate Julie A. Turner said Fitzpatrick was "hands-down everyone's favorite."

"She was a wonderful, bright, giggly person," Turner said. "She was the perfect combination of brains and athleticism."

In addition to serving as the popularly elected student senate president at Trinity, Fitzpatrick was a league-wide lacrosse star and was involved in community service.

"She was an amazing athlete, very smart, very well-rounded," said Benjamin A. Stingle '00, another Trinity classmate who was interviewed after Fitzpatrick's death.

Fitzpatrick had taken a voluntary leave of absence from Harvard beginning in November 1997 and had planned to return in the spring semester of 1998.

College officials expressed surprise and sadness at Fitzpatrick's death.

"It was a great shock to all of us," said John E. Dowling '57, who was master of Leverett House at the time. "She was an extremely talented young woman trying hard to find her way. It is a tragedy of the first order."

Fitzpatrick was survived by her parents, an older brother and a younger sister.