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Mar 31, 2007 6:27 pm US/Eastern
School Mourns Freshman Who Died Of Binge Drinking
LAWRENCE, N.J. (CBS/AP) ―
Friends, family and teachers on Saturday afternoon remembered freshman Gary DeVercelly as a "star" who had a talent for making people laugh and dreamed of someday becoming the general manager of a baseball team.
Several hundred people filled the school's Gill Chapel to pay tribute to the 18-year-old who died Friday morning, a day after being rushed to the hospital after a night of excessive drinking at a campus fraternity.
Gary DeVercelly Sr., who flew in from California on Thursday with his wife, said he admired his son and noted the power he possessed to affect the lives of those around him. His son loved being a big brother to his two younger siblings, DeVercelly Sr. said, and there was much more.
"He taught the family about love," DeVercelly Sr. said.
DeVercelly Sr. and his wife, Julie, of Long Beach, Calif., both said it was a time to grieve, but also a time to celebrate the life their son led for 18 years.
Kelly Lake, a professor who taught DeVercelly in her first English class at Rider, said he was usually the first to arrive in class, the first to comment on something -- even if he hadn't done the reading -- and the first to make everyone laugh.
She should have been talking about DeVercelly, who she described as a "star," like this in a "recommendation for something great" instead of at a memorial service, she said between sobs.
Student Ross Boehm, who met DeVercelly at a summer program, said the two were inseparable since discovering they lived next to each other on move-in day. DeVercelly was someone you could always go to for help, Boehm said.
The DeVercellys, who spoke near the end of the hour-long program, said they hoped people would learn from their son's tragic death.
Julie DeVercelly also asked the school to take whatever steps necessary to ensure what happened to her son doesn't happen to anyone else.
DeVercelly's parents echoed comments made by Rider President Mordechai Rozanski, who announced that a scholarship is being created in DeVercelly's name and also asked that students learn from the situation and come together to help each other through the grieving process.
The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, along with local police, were investigating to determine if hazing was involved in the early Thursday morning incident. A second student, 19-year-old William Williams, who was also intoxicated, was taken to the hospital that night, but he was treated in the emergency room and released.
Authorities on Thursday searched the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house, where DeVercelly was a new member, and removed some items. They were still interviewing students on Friday, but Mercer County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio on Saturday did not know if any more interviews had to be conducted.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
