Service Honors Fonseca's Life

Hundreds of mourners gathered at St. Paul’s Church yesterday evening to commemorate the life of Anthony “Deuce” Fonseca ’04-’05, a Winthrop House resident who was found dead in his dorm room in an apparent suicide on Feb. 22.

The ceremony, which featured testimonials from friends and family, scripture readings and some of Fonseca’s favorite classical music, was organized by University officials and Winthrop House.

Fonseca, who would have turned 24 on March 9, was buried last Friday in his native state of Oklahoma.

“We’re here to celebrate his life,” Fonseca’s uncle, Eulises Chacón, said, “the life of Deuce—the scholar, the roommate, the housemate, the deejay, the director, the spelling bee competitor, the kid who read 106 books in the sixth grade.”

Chacón spoke last night on behalf of Fonseca’s parents, who were present at the service with his two brothers.

“He was an extraordinary son, brother, grandson, nephew and cousin, but most of all, a friend who is now in a better life,” Chacón said to those assembled, many of whom were crying.

An active and outgoing member of the Harvard community, Fonseca was remembered by friends and family for his magnetic personality and contributions to campus student groups.

Fonseca, an economics concentrator, was vice president of Harvard-Radcliffe Television (HRTV) and directed HRTV’s soap opera, “Ivory Tower.”

Mid-way through the ceremony Debra T. Mao ’05, president of HRTV, talked about Fonseca’s commitment to filmmaking, sharing a story about how he weathered freezing temperatures to reshoot a scene until it was perfect.

“He had a good eye for aesthetics and had knowledge of all the latest technology in the industry,” she said.

Mao also said that HRTV members would most miss Fonseca’s “great tell-it-like-it-is attitude, effortless charm and always genuine, beautiful mega-watt smile.”

Carlos J. Rojas ’04, who called Fonseca “just pure energy,” also mentioned Fonseca’s smile. “He walked in the door and took over instantaneously,” Rojas said. “He had the straightest, whitest teeth of any person I’ve ever met. Whenever he flashed them, we knew it was going to be a long night.”

Kristy E. Benoit ’04, a friend of Fonseca’s since his first year at Harvard, remembered Fonseca’s ability to make his friends feel appreciated. She recalled Fonseca’s spontaneity at a Catholic Students’ Association party last year.

“He was making sarcastic comments but then salsa music came on,” she said. “He pulled me to the dance floor and I told him, ‘no way.’ I was stepping on his toes, and he continued to spin me around. I remember laughing so much it hurt,” she said.

Benoit—who helped set up chairs for Sunday services with Benoit—recounted how Fonseca didn’t shake hands after Mass, as is custom, but would kiss her on both cheeks. “That simple act was just so genuine and so respectful,” she said. “He made us feel honored that we were his friends.”

Benoit said she found a note last week Fonseca sent with a rose he gave her as a first-year. “He wrote, ‘Dear Kristy: Stay clean and Catholic,’” she said.

Those who remembered he best also emphasized Fonseca’s love for all kinds of music—from rap to classical. Fonseca, a well-known campus deejay, often volunteered his skills for both charity events and friends’ parties.

Rojas recalled how Fonseca would deejay music at the frequent parties held in Winthrop H- and I-entryways—usually wearing a white Stetson cowboy hat.

“He may have been the life of a scene, but he never made anyone feel left out,” Rojas added.

William L. Aronson ’04, Fonseca’s next-door neighbor in Winthrop J-entryway, introduced a performance of one of Fonseca’s favorite musical pieces, the “Prelude in C-minor” from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Fonseca often requested that Aronson play Bach’s piece for him.

“I could never do it justice,” Aronson said. “But he never cared.”

Fonseca also asked to hear other pieces, said Aronson.

“Sometimes he’d come into my room and make me play ‘flashy’ stuff on my keyboard,” Aronson said. “I’d suggest playing something introspective, and he’d say, ‘It’s not flashy enough!’”

Chacón, Fonseca’s uncle, commented on some of Fonseca’s other hobbies. He said that Fonseca loved to read history, especially biographies.

“Reading about others would help him catch up with the past and it would propel him into the future,” Chacón said.

“He knew Christina Aguilera’s life,” said Chacón to laughter, “just as he knew Nelson Mandela’s life, Mikhail Gorbachev’s life, Bill Clinton’s life. He grew up knowing it all, which he was sure to tell you.”

And Chacón said Fonseca lived his own life to the fullest.

“He lived the moments as they came. He observed, he questioned everything that happened in that instant,” he said.

Chacón thanked members of Harvard’s administration and the masters and tutors of Winthrop for helping the family through its grieving.

Holding back tears and with his voice breaking, Winthrop Master Stephen P. Rosen told students at the service to “not despair.”

“Do not let this harden you,” he said. “If you lose your capacity to give and receive love, you’ve lost everything.”

Rosen hosted a reception following the service, during which multiple screenings of a video of candid photos featuring Fonseca and his friends’ were shown.

Randy D. Xu ’04, who served on the HRTV executive board with Fonseca, said the entire HRTV executive board started the project last Saturday and pulled three all-nighters in a row to finish the video.

The video included footage of Fonseca’s trip to Montreal with friends over reading period and humorous outtakes from a small role he played in “Ivory Tower.”

Benoit said she regretted that she would never have the opportunity to talk to Fonseca again.

“I’ll never get to hear him tell me what was most important to him,” she said. “I hope he knew—or now knows, looking down on us—how much he meant to all of us.”

A ruling on the cause of Fonseca’s death is pending the results of an examination by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

A Cambridge Police Department spokesperson said Feb. 22 that Fonseca’s death appears to be a suicide. If ruled a suicide, his death will be the 14th student suicide at Harvard since 1990, according to University spokesperson Joe Wrinn.

Fonseca’s death comes about one year after the suicide of Marian H. Smith, Class of 2004. Smith, also a Winthrop resident, took her own life in December 2002.

—Staff writer May Habib can be reached at habib@fas.harvard.edu.