Slain student remembered as kind, generous

Family and friends filled a service in honor of Shannon Schieber. There was the time last spring when a friend of Shannon Schieber's endured a disastrous plane trip to Philadelphia. He missed his first flight and then his second plane was delayed by three hours. When he landed here at about 1 a.m., Schieber was there waiting for him with a couple of beers. It was times like this and many others when Schieber's warm smile, generous personality and zest for living made her stand out throughout her life, which was tragically cut short four months ago. In a memorial service yesterday, friends and classmates of the first-year Wharton doctoral student described her as a vibrant, intelligent woman and compassionate friend who accomplished a great deal in her 23 years and nine months. Though Schieber studied at Penn for less than a year, about 80 students and faculty members attended her memorial service -- sponsored by Wharton's Insurance and Risk Management program -- in a large Logan Hall lecture room. "The University of Pennsylvania is dimmer today," said University Chaplain William Gipson, who is responsible for overseeing and coordinating religious activities on campus. "Her loss casts a deep shadow over us." Schieber, a native of the Washington, DC, suburb of Chevy Chase, Md., was found strangled to death in her Center City apartment May 7. Police have yet to make an arrest. But there was as much laughter as there were tears yesterday, as friends and colleagues remembered a life full of promise. Insurance Professor Olivia Mitchell, who organized the service, opened the afternoon by praising Schieber as a "strong leader, generous with her friends [and] giving to the world around her." Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity, noting the large turnout, said Schieber's "impact is just so clear today with the presence of all of you here." Many of the 15 or so speakers talked about Schieber's contributions to her community. While in high school, she spearheaded a campaign to find ways for the cash-strapped public school system to restore eliminated programs, at one point making line-by-line suggestions to changing the budget in front of the county council. In Philadelphia, Schieber tutored inner-city children and helped run a Junior Achievement economics program at a local Catholic high school. One friend recalled meeting an elderly neighbor of Schieber's at church, who told of how Schieber spent three hours one afternoon helping him move boxes. She worked just as hard in school. Schieber managed to graduate in three years from Duke University with three majors -- mathematics, economics and philosophy. Friends said that Schieber was always there for them when they needed something, whether it was a ride to Washington or just a hug on a gloomy day. Shannon's mother, Vicki Schieber -- who attended the service with her husband Sylvester and son Sean, who discovered Schieber's body -- thanked everyone for coming to the service and urged them to help her create a "living memorial" to Shannon. "We ask you to join with us to carry on Shannon's goals and dreams," Vicki Schieber said. "We're asking you to make a difference." She went on to ask the mourners to follow Shannon's example of trying to give back to the communities in which she lived. "It doesn't matter how long you live, but what you did with the time you're given," she said. Reinforcing the general theme of allowing Schieber to live on through the memories of those who knew her, Mark Pauly, the vice dean of Wharton's doctoral program, announced the creation of two memorial funds in Schieber's name. Pauly awarded one of them, the Shannon Schieber Memorial Doctoral Scholarship, to Wharton graduate student Susan Hogan, who said she was honored to receive the award. Pauly said the scholarship will be awarded annually to a female Wharton doctoral student entering her second year of study and exhibiting "personal integrity, high promise for a gifted teaching and research career and commitment to the community." The second memorial, the Shannon Schieber Memorial Doctoral Research Fund, will be a source of funding for Wharton Insurance doctoral students to "buy the tools they need to craft their research," including books, software and travel expenses, Pauly said. Philadelphia homicide detectives -- many of whom attended the service -- are still investigating the murder, Philadelphia Police Homicide Capt. Stephen Glenn said yesterday in a telephone interview. Glenn said they are "following a variety of different paths," but declined to comment on any specific leads. Police no longer believe that Schieber's murder is related to an assault at 14th and Lombard streets late last month. Still, Glenn said one of the best chances they have of solving the case is to find a connection between it and similar incidents.