With the tsunami that affected South East Asia, it’s crazy to hear of the insane numbers of people dead. Hundreds of thousands. Try to comprehend that a minute. Try counting from 1 to 1,000 out loud and fathom how long it took you, and how long it would take you to do that 300 times again. That’s a lot of people dead.

What really shook me is what email I got the same day I got back from Mike Regina’s funeral and received this email regarding a friend from college:

From: “Dean Thomas F. Cooley”
Subject: Memorial for Stern Alumna, Hannah Shi
Dear Alumnus/a:

The recent devastation caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunamis in South Asia and East Africa and the people it has affected have been in the hearts and minds of all of us here at Stern. Sadly, this tragedy has touched the Stern community with the loss of Hannah Shi, an alumna of the Stern Undergraduate class of 2001. Hannah, an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, was vacationing in Thailand at the time. A memorial service for Hannah will be held this Friday, January 14 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan (Park Avenue at 51st Street).

We are still working to confirm the safety of our many international alumni and students and ask that you share any news regarding fellow Stern alumni with the School’s Office of Alumni Affairs via email at alumni@stern.nyu.edu or by phone at 212-998-4040.

This unprecedented tragedy reminds us all of the interconnectedness of the Stern community with the global community. We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and alumna Hannah Shi and offer our sincere condolences to all of you whose lives she touched.

Sincerely,
Thomas F. Cooley, Dean
Sally Blount-Lyon, Vice Dean and Dean, Undergraduate College

Then the news flooded in, and then I saw the cover of the NY Post in the pic above. Absolute shock.

News links of what happened (or press more at the end of this post to view my archive of it):
News from her Church | Newsday Article | Gothamist

I always remembered her as one the friendliest people at NYU. We had a quite of few classes together including a public speaking class that had a lot of improv, where I got to see a lot of her playful humor. Her classic greeting was a long “hiiiieeee~” or “byyyeeee~.” There’s pictures of her in the gallery in the NYU graduation section here:

Be sure to check the pic called “Peeping Hannah”. Here’s just an example of how playful her personality is. You can see that she’s sitting behind us, peering between Mike and I with a laughing smile (that’s Nancy next to her). (click the pic for full size)

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