Friends, family honor Huang '07

Memorial services were held for Melissa Huang '07 on Sunday in the University Chapel.

President Tilghman and members of the Wilson College community and the chemical engineering department as well as fellow students joined Huang's parents and brother in remembering and honoring her life and the influence she had on those around her.

The Chapel Choir opened the service with a hymn, proceeding to a presenting area with a portrait of Huang, a small urn on a pedestal and a wreath.

After introductory remarks by Dean of Religious Life Thomas Breidenthal, students offered two readings from the Old Testament, as well as a Buddhist memorial prayer.

Friends also offered their own words of remembrance. Lennox Caleb '07, a friend and colleague in the chemical engineering department, spoke of Huang's academic aptitude and friendly spirit. He remembered the friend who, during their daily treks to the Engineering Quad in the morning, was "always ready with a smile and a pencil in hand."

Upon finishing, Caleb entreated those present to "break the gloom, as Melissa would have wanted us to do," by joining hands in a unified "pillar of positive peer pressure."

Brian Muegge '05, Huang's residential community adviser in Wilson College last year, also spoke of her caring attention to others.

Muegge told the story of how on the night of his birthday, stuck in his dorm room studying, Huang went out of her way to buy a birthday cake and a card, as well as organize a small surprise party.

After Muegge's words, Pablo Debenedetti, a professor in the chemical engineering department, approached the lectern.

Huang had taken CHE 246: Thermodynamics in the spring semester of her freshman year — a course taught by Debenedetti and "normally taken by sophomores," he noted.

Debenedetti spoke of Huang's "discreet smile" and "quiet understanding" in the classroom.

While grading the final exam for CHE 246 last semester, Debenedetti was "delighted" to see Huang had submitted a flawless exam — "not a comma was out of place," he said.

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Leon Huang, Melissa's father, took to the lectern after Debenedetti. After thanking Tilghman and the many people involved in organizing the memorial, Huang gave a brief history of Melissa's life — as daughter, academic and, above all, caring person.

Breidenthal closed the ceremony with the words, "the best way to honor Melissa's memory is to care, to love others."

Huang, a chemical engineering student in Wilson College, died in her dorm room on Sunday, Sept. 5.

Wilson College has established a memorial fund in Huang's honor.

Donations can be made to: Melissa M. Huang '07 Memorial Fund, Princeton University, c/o Nancy Kalmikoff, Gift Records, P.O. Box 5357, Princeton, N.J. 08543-5357.