Recent Grad Falls to Death

Just two weeks after graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College, Paul F. Gilligan III ’05 fell to his death early Friday morning from a sixth-floor window on New York’s Upper West Side.

Family and friends are considering the death to be accidental.

Gilligan, 22, fell from a 336 Central Park West apartment shared by his college roommate, Daniel L. Seltzer ’05, and Seltzer’s twin, Sarah M. Seltzer ‘05, who is also a Crimson editor. The Seltzer family was sleeping in the apartment when Gilligan fell to his death.

According to Gilligan’s father, Paul Gilligan Jr., Gilligan had been sleeping on an air mattress on the floor near a window with a low sill. Investigators surmise Gilligan lost his balance while opening the window, although there were no witnesses at the scene of the incident.

Gilligan, Daniel Seltzer, and college roommate Stephen J. Robbins ’05 had gone downtown Thursday evening to watch the NBA finals, according to Gilligan’s father. After the game, Gilligan and Seltzer walked 40 blocks back to the apartment.

They had been drinking beer, but were not visibly intoxicated in the apartment surveillance video taken as they returned shortly before 2 a.m., according to investigators.

Friends and family said that Gilligan seemed happy and that it was extremely unlikely that the fall was intentional.

“He wasn’t a depressed kid. Everything in his life was going extremely well,” his father, Gilligan Jr., said yesterday.

Gilligan’s body was found on an alley stairwell by a building worker at 6:30 a.m. It remains unclear at what time he fell out the window.

His friends were not aware that Gilligan had fallen until informed by investigators shortly after the body was discovered. Daniel Seltzer had risen earlier and noticed Gilligan’s absence but assumed he had gone for a morning run.

“It’s a tragic accident,” Gilligan’s father said. “There are some things in life that you can prepare for and guard against, and some things are like getting hit by lightning.”

Neither officers of the 24th Precinct nor representatives of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information would confirm reports, saying the investigation is ongoing. At press time, the medical examiner’s office had not released results from an autopsy conducted Saturday.

Those close to Gilligan remember his sense of humor, boundless energy, academic achievement, intelligence, and athleticism.

Before arriving at Harvard, Gilligan had already distinguished himself both academically and athletically.

A New Jersey native, he graduated first in his class at Haddon Township High School, earning all A’s while captaining the varsity baseball, basketball, and soccer teams.

“He was a tremendous kid, he made us proud every day of his life, and he still does,” his father said yesterday. “In his 22 years, he had a tremendous life, and that’s what we want to remember.”

An accomplished pre-med student, Gilligan also left his mark on Harvard through a passion for intramural sports. The Eliot House IM secretary, he was a driving force behind the Eliot win in the 2004 Straus Cup. His personal dedication—he was known to practice and play a series of different sports for five hours a day—was complemented by an infectious enthusiasm that drew others in the House to participate, friends said.

Gilligan went out of his way to encourage and cajole fellow Eliot residents into playing.

“No matter how many times you told him you were busy, you’d find yourself in a swimsuit at the pool or walking across the snowy bridge to the Murr Squash Center, because no one could say no to Paul,” Courtney K. Wallace ’06 wrote in an e-mail. Wallace was HoCo Chair of Eliot House last year, and was close to Paul and his blocking group.

Under Gilligan’s leadership, Eliot forfeited only a single event, a tennis match, during their victorious 2004 Straus Cup campaign. “He was really good about getting people who weren’t excited about sports out playing and having fun, and that was really good for the community,” Wallace said yesterday.

Gilligan’s dedication and perseverence marked his personal achievements as well.

An All-State soccer player in his home state of New Jersey, Gilligan did not make the JV soccer team his freshman year. The following year, he not only made the JV team but ended the season as its leading scorer, earning an invitation to try out for the varsity squad.

“I think Paul will be remembered as someone who had a vibrant personality—athletic, energetic, and friendly,” Wallace said. “But at the same time, he was also really, really smart.”

A biology concentrator with a 3.8 GPA, Gilligan was not only a dedicated student but also had near-perfect MCAT scores and was planning to apply to the nation’s best medical schools after traveling abroad on an Eliot House Finley fellowship.

Friends also remember Gilligan’s lighter side, recalling him as a practical joker with a particular affinity for high-jinx.

During his freshman year, he was written up in the MIT student newspaper, The Tech, for his involvement in the theft of a paw from the costume of MIT mascot Tim the Beaver. When an MIT sophomore removed part of the costume to climb on the John Harvard statue, a Harvard student stole the paw, which was mysteriously found in Gilligan’s Holworthy suite. The MIT newspaper chronicled attempts to recover the paw alternately through force and subterfuge.

Wallace reflected fondly on another humorous moment with Gilligan at center stage.

“Paul was really funny when we won the Straus Cup,” she remembered. “Afterwards, he and Steve [Robbins], they had this microphone [in the Eliot courtyard]...they did this interview show where they kept interviewing each other, asking things like, ‘What’s it like to be the best IM athlete ever?’” Wallace recalled. “People kept calling to complain because they were so noisy. They had to have one of the security guards in Eliot literally drag them away from the microphone.”

Hani M. Elias ‘05 remembered his blockmate.

“Intelligent, thoughtful, and funny, Paul was amazing at every endeavor he pursued,” Elias wrote in an e-mail. “He never made you feel inferior and his humility made him so approachable. In my toughest times he was always encouraging. He has left a huge mark on my life.”

There will be a memorial service in Eliot House 7 p.m. tonight.

The wake will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29, at Holy Saviour Church in Haddon Township, New Jersey. The funeral will take place at 11 a.m. the following day, also at the Holy Saviour Church.

The family prefers contributions to the Paul Gilligan III Scholarship Fund, care of First Colonial National Bank, 900 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, New Jersey 08108.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.