Search Results

Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.

Wharton junior commits suicide

(10/29/01 10:00am)

Wharton junior Jose Joseph fell eight floors to his death from his apartment in Hamilton College House early Friday in what has been ruled a suicide. According to University officials, Joseph's body was found on the west side of the building by a Penn employee shortly before 9 a.m. on Friday morning. The first dispatch was received by University Police at 9:02 a.m., after someone called from the front desk of Hamilton, said Pat Brennan, director of special services for the Division of Public Safety. An investigator from the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's office arrived on the scene at 10:24 a.m. and pronounced Joseph dead. A subsequent investigation by the medical examiner's office concluded on Saturday that Joseph died from "multiple injuries" associated with his fall and that "the manner of his death is suicide," according to Jeff Moran, a spokesman for the medical examiner. Officials have not been able to determine the time of death. Joseph's father was notified by University Chaplain William Gipson on Friday, shortly after the Wharton junior's body was discovered. Joseph, who was studying Business and Public Policy and Operation and Information Management, was originally from Venice, Fla. While at Penn, he worked as an information technology advisor. "We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss of a young and promising life," University President Judith Rodin said in a statement Friday. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jose Joseph's family and friends." His death has left the University community in shock, many saying Joseph left no hints as to what he planned to do Friday. "My first reaction was I just didn't believe it," said Joshua Goldsmith, an Engineering senior and a Hamilton ITA. "I seriously believed that it was an accident at first." Goldsmith was notified of Joseph's death at 10:45 a.m. on Friday by Christine Brisson, associate director of College House Computing. "I'm in complete shock, basically," said Goldsmith, who was also a classmate of Joseph's in an Operations and Information Management Class. "I talked to him [on Thursday] and he was fine." Joseph left an away message on his AOL Instant Messenger account that was not taken down until late Friday or early Saturday. "There is no wound more deep, no ailment more dire than a broken heart," Joseph's message said. "The thought of having to live with a broken heart for month after month is almost worse that the broken heart itself." In an effort to reach out to Joseph's friends and co-workers, the University's Counseling and Psychological Services Department offered a series of individual and group meetings for students Saturday afternoon. Today at 4 p.m., the Wharton Undergraduate Division will host a meeting for students in the first-floor student lounge of Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall. Members of the Wharton Undergraduate and CAPS staffs will be on hand. "We want to remind our students that we have numerous support systems in place if they are feeling distressed and we urge them to make use of these services," Rodin said. The last suicide of a University student was in 2000, when College junior Justin Finalle killed himself at his home in DuBois, Pa. While several students have committed suicide in the past decade, the last time someone jumped from the high rises was in in 1992, when College junior Matthew Bronstein fell to his death from the 14th floor Harnwell College House, which was then called High Rise East.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2001/10/wharton_junior_commits_suicide

PennConnects