Harvard Junior Lakota Tolloak Remembered as an Energetic Mentor, Supportive Friend
Tolloak, a junior in Pforzheimer House concentrating in Integrative Biology on the premedical track, died on Jan. 17 after a brief illness. He was 21.
Kawsar Yasin ’26 met Lakota J. Tolloak ’26 at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport while they were on the same flight to Visitas during senior year of high school.
“He was the second person I met before coming to Harvard,” said Yasin, a Crimson Editorial editor.
Throughout her freshman year, Yasin said, Tolloak was a “super comforting presence.”
She said he came up with an idea that every time they ran into each other, they would “always have to list a little win we have, even if things are tough” — wins like receiving grants, starting new jobs, or loving their dorm rooms.
“Lakota always brought such a light and an energy to whatever space that he was in,” said Hannah L. Niederriter ’26, who became friends with Tolloak during freshman year and took several premed courses with him.
Tolloak, a junior in Pforzheimer House concentrating in Integrative Biology on the premedical track, died on Jan. 17 after a brief illness. He was 21.
‘Unapologetically Himself’
Tolloak was born on Oct. 29, 2003, in Ada, Oklahoma, and raised by his mothers Charity Tolliver and Tommie Postoak. Tolloak lived in Ada his whole life before coming to Harvard as a recipient of the Gates Scholarship.
As a student at Ada High School, Tolloak was active on the student council, the science club, the art club, and the math club — “every” club at school, according to his high school teacher Shawn Freeman.
“He saw people, he listened to people, he engaged people,” Freeman said. “He wasn’t afraid of a challenge to try to make a difference or make an impact.”
At Harvard, Tolloak served as a Peer Advising Fellow for Harvard freshmen, mentoring 15 students living in Grays Hall.
Sophia C. Scott ’25, Tolloak’s co-PAF, said Tolloak immediately made her feel at home in the entryway after she was randomly assigned to the Grays PAFing team.
“He knew so much about all the students and their interests, and it was just incredible to see him work with kids from so many different backgrounds,” Scott, a former Crimson News editor, said.
Scott said Tolloak “put a lot of thought and time” into supporting his PAFees — and planning activities for their weekly study breaks. He had the PAFs print out designs of cookies and cakes, then task their students to recreate the designs on the actual desserts.
Amanda Lubniewski, who worked with Tolloak as a proctor advising freshmen in Grays, wrote in a statement that Tolloak “was particularly adept” at mentoring first generation, LGBTQ, and Indigenous students.
“Lakota always had an eye on making our entryway and events as inclusive as possible, considering multiple perspectives and dimensions of identity,” Lubniewski added.
Chloe M. Becker ’25, who met Tolloak his freshman year and became his co-PAF the following year, said Tolloak “was just so unapologetically himself in every space he was in and made people feel okay being themselves.”
Tolloak’s also joined the Radcliffe Institute’s Emerging Leaders Program, in which Harvard undergraduates mentor high school sophomores in the Boston area. Sherry Sklarwitz, the ELP’s director, said Tolloak was part of the “core fabric” of the program.
Lubniewski — who also serves as a student engagement specialist at the Radcliffe Institute — described how Tolloak immediately had an impact on the ELP program.
“Lakota told us that he had an idea for something different than your usual name-game activities, but that it would be fun,” Lubniewski wrote. “We cleared away the chairs, turned up the music, and Lakota got on stage at the front of the room — and started teaching everyone a choreographed line dance.”
“It was such a hit, that we asked Lakota to do it again during his second year of ELP,” Lubniewski added. “This year, we’ll have to dance in his honor.”
A Friend Who Could ‘Talk to Anyone’
Lubniewski wrote that she bonded with Tolloak when he repeatedly locked himself out of his room in his first week at Harvard.
“I would hear a knock on my door, open it, and find Lakota, no shoes, no keys, and no cell phone, shaking his head and laughing, ‘Amandaaa, I may have locked myself out of my room again. Can I call Securitas from your phone?’” Lubniewski wrote.
While Tolloak waited to be let back into his room, Lubniewski sat with him in her living room. She grew to see him as a vivid conversationalist and a leader who attended peers’ shows and games, was an active participant in the entryway’s groupchat, and organized activities for the entryway.
Tolloak had a “slight southern accent,” Lubniewski wrote, and enjoyed observing cultural differences between the Northeast and in his hometown. He talked about his family often and showed her photos of his nieces and nephews.
Niederriter, Tolloak’s friend and premed classmate, said Tolloak had a knack for sparking conversations and mutual trust with anyone he encountered.
“He had a way of being able to talk to anyone at any time about literally anything,” Niederriter said. “He was able to make people feel so comfortable within the first few minutes of meeting them.”
Freeman, Tolloak’s high school teacher, paid Tolloak a visit while he was at Harvard, while Freeman was in Boston in the fall of 2022.
“I messaged him and I said, ‘Hey, I’m in Boston. Are you available for dinner one evening?’ And he was like ‘absolutely,’” Freeman said. Tolloak took her around Harvard’s campus, out for dinner, and to pick out a Harvard sweatshirt.
Eli Johnson-Visio ’26, who met Tolloak prior to the start of freshman year, said Tolloak “was a very funny guy, always cracking jokes.”
Mia A. Russ ’26 met Tolloak in an admitted students group chat in December 2021. According to her, they instantly “hit it off.”
“When I moved into college, Lakota was the first person to visit me in my dorm, helping me carry my things from the car and unpack,” Russ wrote. “We spent the whole day together.”
She called Tolloak “fiery, smart, funny, and beautiful.”
“He was equally capable of helping me with my biology homework as he was teaching me how to put on eyeliner,” Russ wrote. “He truly was an extraordinary person.”
Tolloak — an advocate for first-generation and low-income peers and leader in Harvard’s queer space — had his eyes set on being a physician, a role that many said would have suited him well.
“He would have been an incredible doctor,” Johnson-Visio said.
The mark Tolloak left on students at Harvard and beyond will not soon be forgotten, Lubniewski said.
“Across these communities, I can think of so many people who deeply felt ‘I belong here’ because of Lakota’s presence. Lakota has been such an integral part of these multiple communities, and it’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he’s gone,” Lubniewski wrote.
“We were so lucky to know him,” she added.
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.