After Tragedy, Students Rally for Wang Family

Friends of Hui Wang ’08, the Eliot biochemical sciences concentrator killed in a car crash in New York’s Catskill Mountains Oct. 7, are rallying to raise funds for his family.

The friends originally intended to contribute to the high costs of transporting Wang’s mother, who is retired, and father, who works as an engineer, from Guangzhou, China for their son’s funeral and memorial service. Since Harvard College has paid for the family’s travel expenses, the group of friends now plans to present the money they are raising as a symbol of support for Wang’s family.

Wang’s parents arrived in Boston on Saturday, and are staying with Eliot House Co-Masters Lino Pertile and Anna Bensted.

Slobodan Radoman ‘07, a high school friend of Wang who is helping to organize the effort, applauded the College’s promptness.

“They got stuff done which is perfect,” he said. “That’s why we were crazy about fundraising, because we were worried at the beginning that Hui’s family would not be able to make it to the States soon enough and that the College would take a long time to talk about it.”

Radoman and other organizers sent e-mails to friends and house lists, and said that the response was overwhelming.

“Kids from Matthews and Canaday who didn’t know Hui were donating. It’s not even about the money, it’s about the fact that they are showing that they care about what happened.”

Most donations have ranged between $1 and $20, but a large anonymous donation was made last Wednesday. Jugo Kapetanovic ‘07 walked into his suite to find an envelope labeled “For Hui, a Great Human Being.” Enclosed were five $100 bills.

Kapetanovic responded to the donation over the Cabot House list: “Whoever you are—Thank You. I cannot possibly imagine what enormous impact your act of kindness will have on Hui’s family, who have undeservingly found themselves in the midst of the greatest of tragedies. Their pain, as boundless as it must be, has been made less so by your thoughtfulness.”

Donations can be sent to Kirkland residents Dongbo Yu ’07 (dyu@fas.harvard.edu) and Liwei Fan ’08 (liweifan@fas.harvard.edu), Eliot seniors Tim Zhou (hzhou@fas.harvard.edu), Rui Tang (ruitang@fas.harvard.edu), and Radoman (radoman@fas.harvard.edu), and Lowell resident Jin Zhou ’07 (jinzhou@fas.harvard.edu).

Donors can arrange to drop off their checks via e-mail or process their gifts through Crimson Cash.

A memorial is tentatively scheduled for this Wednesday at Memorial Church, and plans for the funeral are ongoing.