Adam Moss // CC BY-SA 2.0
Temple University student James Orlando was found dead in his off-campus apartment on the morning of Dec. 2, NBC News reported. This marks the second Temple student death in a week, as well as the fifth student death of the semester.
Twenty-year-old Orlando was a junior in Temple’s Fox School of Business and a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. His girlfriend called 911 after she discovered that he was having difficulty breathing at his off-campus residence on the 1800 block of Berks St. in North Philadelphia, 6ABC News reported. Medics found him unresponsive and found the cause of death to be unknown.
Friends of the Reading, Pa. native created a GoFundMe page for memorial expenses, writing that Orlando “was a carefree fun loving guy, he cherished moments with his friends.” The page has received more than $1,500 of its $5,000 goal as of Dec. 4.
On Dec. 1, Fox School of Business senior Michael Paytas was found unresponsive on campus at Temple’s Paley Library. An official from the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office told Temple News that Paytas died from an “accidental drug intoxication,” but offered no further information.
Paytas, 24, was a marketing major from Holmes, Pa. In an article on The Tab, Paytas’s friend Adam McCormick said, “Michael had the best sense of humor and he cared about everyone, anything that he could help with―he would help with."
He transferred from Delaware County Community College to Temple in 2014. University officials say there was no foul play suspected.
In response to both incidents, University officials encouraged students to use the resources at the Tuttleman Counseling Center. In a statement released by Temple Student Government, Director of Communications Sarah Madaus wrote, “these past few months have not been easy for a single member of the Temple community.”
These deaths follow the murder of Temple student Jenna Burleigh in September, the death by suicide of freshman Richard Dalcourt in early October, and the death of senior Carrian Hithon, who was shot and killed by police in Miami, Fla. a week later.
There have been four student deaths so far this semester at Penn.
TSG’s statement after Orlando’s death encouraged students to “talk to your friends and family and understand that you are never alone.”
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