Ariel Shaker, 21, Passes Away

CORRECTIONS APPENDED

“Passionate” was the word friends, teammates, coaches, and Harvard officials used to describe Ariel E.F. Shaker ’10—who passed away Wednesday night after suffering injuries in a horse-riding accident last Thursday.

Her roommates said she loved talking, writing, literature, and spending time with people. Friends said that the passionate way she approached life—from her selflessness in her friendships to her love for Bob Dylan and the outdoors—left a mark on those around her.

“When I think of her, the word passion comes to mind,” said Cabot House Master Jay M. Harris of the 21-year-old Shaker. “She was creative, imaginative, and threw herself into everything she did.”

In an e-mail to students Monday afternoon, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds cited the words of Shaker’s college interviewer to describe her personality.

“She is easily the most personable applicant I’ve interviewed in my years of interviewing for Harvard,” the interviewer wrote. “She is well spoken, poised, engaging, sharp and witty. I’d be shocked if she isn’t a real leader among her peers.”

Above all, Shaker adored horses, which she had ridden since she was eight years old. It was her love for riding that led her to join the Harvard Polo Club this year.

Although Shaker had spent just a month as a member of the team, she made an immediate impression on her new coaches and teammates.

Coach Crocker Snow Jr. ’61 said that he and his wife Cissie, who coaches the women’s polo team, were instantly struck by Shaker’s athletic ability and love for horses—“all the requirements for becoming a polo player,” he said.

Women’s team captain Alexandra “Za” C. Tilt ’10 wrote in an e-mail that Shaker’s passion for horses was instantly clear and left a lasting impression on the members of the team.

“She had never played before, but I remember her second or third time practicing with us she pulled me aside and said, ‘I don’t just want to learn to play polo. I want to be GOOD at polo. Just tell me what I have to do,’ Tilt recalled in an e-mail. “She just seemed to love every minute of it.”

Snow said that while Shaker was with two other Harvard students at Pony Express in Ipswich, Mass. at the time of the accident—in which she thrown from a horse that then fell on her—she was not participating in a Harvard practice. He said that she was helping exercise some of the horses when she was injured.

“I can absolutely tell you that she was an extremely accomplished rider on a steady, dependable, reliable horse,” Crocker said. “It’s a mystery.”

The Salem News reported last week that police said Shaker was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

A representative for the Ipswich Police Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment by The Crimson over the past few days.

After the accident, Shaker was taken by helicopter to Boston Medical Center with extensive internal bleeding in her head. A group of family and friends had been at her side throughout the weekend, according to Snow.

In what Harris called a “typically generous act,” Shaker donated her organs after her passing.

A native of Palo Alto, Calif., Shaker was a Visual and Environmental Studies concentrator with a secondary field in English.

An avid rower in high school, Ariel had been a member of Harvard women’s Heavyweight Crew team before she joined the Polo team.

Shaker also served as a Resource Efficiency Program representative for Cabot House and worked in Cafe Gato Rojo and the Cabot Science Library.

Harris and his wife Cheryl invited students to gather in their home yesterday evening to commemorate Shaker. Harris said that a memorial service for Shaker is currently being planned for Friday.

—Staff writer Lauren D. Kiel can be reached at lkiel@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTIONS

The original version of the Oct. 7 news article "Senior Ariel Shaker Passes Away" incorrectly stated in the headline and text of the article that Ariel E.F. Shaker '10 had passed away on Oct. 6, based on e-mails sent by Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds and Cabot House Master Jay M. Harris, who both wrote that Shaker had died. In fact, College spokesman Jeff Neal later clarified that those e-mails were inaccurate, and that though Shaker would not make a meaningful recovery, she was being kept physically alive in order to allow her to be an organ donor. She was officially pronounced dead later Wednesday evening.

The article also gave the wrong name for a newspaper in Salem, Mass. that reported on the accident. It is the Salem News, not the Salem Times.