Chang H. Jo

Chang H. Jo, Class of 2000, died March 18, 1999 in an apparent suicide. He was 20 years old.

Kirkland House officials found Jo unconscious in his room after the biochemistry concentrator and musician missed a scheduled meeting with his senior tutor. Investigators later determined that his death was a result of cyanide poisoning.

Friends and faculty members interviewed at the time of Jo's death remembered the southern Californian as especially dedicated to his academic work and a considerate friend.

"He was passionate about math and music but was brilliant all-around," said Peter S. Manasantivongs '99, a friend since high school.

During his time at Harvard, Jo co-authored two published research papers with Higgins Professor of Biochemistry Jack L. Strominger '46 on the cellular mechanisms of the immune system. Jo, who entered the College as part of the Class of 2000 and accepted advanced standing status, took a year off to work for a financial firm in New York City.

Jo's talents extended beyond the purely professional, too, friends said.

Jessica A. Bowen '00, one of Jo's friends from their first year at College and a member of his blocking group, said that despite his dedication to his studies, Jo was always available to help other students with homework.

"Even freshman year he was taking more chemistry and physics classes than anyone else in our entryway, but he was always willing to help other people," Bowen said at the time of Jo's death.

Vice President of the Mozart Society Orchestra (MSO) David Y. Oh '00, who was Jo's roommate during the summer of 1998, said he encouraged Jo, a viola player, to join the MSO.

Oh said Jo was an active participant throughout the year and played in several orchestra pits for campus drama productions, including last year's Dunster House Opera show, Candide.

Won S. Shin '00, one of Jo's friends in Kirkland House, said that although Jo may have seemed "quiet and shy" to people who did not know him, he was "always quick to lend a hand or make a joke."

Shin remembered his own birthday dinner celebration as a first-year, when Jo had to leave the restaurant before eating.

"When the rest of us were done and asked for the check, we discovered that Chang had discreetly paid for all of us," Shin wrote in an e-mail message. "Chang was truly a unique and special human being. He will be sorely missed because there will never be anyone else like him."

Jo was survived by his parents, Kuk Nam and Jong Geum Jo of Cerritos, Calif., and an older brother, Chang B. Jo '93, of New York City.