Jose Joseph was a Miami Dolphins fan, loved computers and couldn't wait for Windows XP to be released. Friends agree that he was fun, easygoing and friendly.
That's why the death of the Wharton junior came as a complete shock to the people who knew him best: his small group of close friends and his fellow information technology advisors.
"I spoke to him last Sunday and he seemed fine," College senior Kim Nguyen said. Nguyen lived on the eighth floor of Hamilton College House, and was a neighbor of Joseph's. "You never would've suspected something was bothering him."
He was a computer whiz who helped others on a daily basis as the computing manager of Hamilton.
Last year as an ITA, he was voted the "ITA of the Year" by Hamilton residents, which was no surprise to people who knew him or benefited from his expertise. They said he was happy to help and quick to respond.
And those ITAs who worked closely with Joseph said they simply could not comprehend his sudden death Friday.
Engineering senior Joshua Goldsmith was an ITA and also had class with Joseph. He checked Joseph's on-line away message the night before his friend jumped to his death.
Goldsmith said Joseph had typed that he was putting up black curtains in his eighth floor Hamilton single. So the next day, when Goldsmith heard of Joseph's death, he assumed his friend had accidentally fallen out of the window hanging the curtains.
"I didn't believe it was suicide until they said they found the note," Goldsmith said. "If only he had a roommate, it would have stopped this from happening."
"When you're by yourself, you have a lot of time to think, but no one to really talk to," Goldsmith said. "A roommate is always there for you."
But other friends said even though Joseph was in a single, he always took care of himself.
College sophomore Tazeen Siddiqui said Joseph always cooked, even though he was making the meals just for one person.
She said to walk in front of his room on any morning, she could smell his breakfast wafting into the hallway: scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage and toast.
"He liked to cook, to eat out in restaurants, to eat period," Siddiqui fondly remembers. "You could never tell that by looking at him."
His lean and lanky frame was kept in shape during his frequent workouts. Above his computer monitor, Joseph kept checklists on notebook paper with a schedule for each week to ensure that he worked out, ate healthily and did stretches for his knees, which he injured playing high school basketball.
He hated winter clothes and longed for the warm climate of his home state, Florida, Siddiqui recalled as a fellow Floridian.
Siddiqui only became closer friends with Joseph two weeks ago, but feels as if she learned a lot about him in the short period of time.
Friends said Josephi was the type of guy that would never ignore someone he knew if he passed them on campus. He always was smiling or laughing and he never gave a hint that he was depressed or troubled.
Although Joseph's recent break-up with his girlfriend was definitely bothering him, he was dealing with it well, Siddiqui said.
Joseph, who would never leave his room without his black hair gelled and styled into spikes, Joseph entered Penn in the Management and Technology program only to switch to Wharton.
Joseph, whose favorite ensemble included khakis and a T-shirt, was a hard worker and spent every summer taking classes at Penn, some for one of his three majors, political science. Joseph was also concentrating in Operations and Information Management, and Business and Public Policy. But this year, he was looking for a change of pace.
He was interested in an internship in Washington, where his sister recently graduated from Georgetown University, to put his love of politics to practical use.
But now all of that is a thing of the past.
"It was so shaking," Siddiqui said. "You just don't know. There are so many people that might be on edge and you don't even know it."
