Friends, family gather to remember Davis '06

Friends of Manzili Davis '06 gathered Wednesday afternoon in the University Chapel for memorial service, remembering him as quiet, kind individual.

Dean of Religious Life Tom Breidenthal welcomed those present and spoke briefly before ceding the podium to Chris Aguilar '06, one of Davis' freshman year roommates, who read from the Bible.

Following Aguilar, Dean of Mathey College Steve Lestition led the congregation in a responsive reading of Psalm 23. Lestition had selected Davis as a peer academic adviser in Mathey and spoke of him as "gentle, courtly, smart, and extremely polite with everyone" in an interview with The Daily Princetonian last month.

Davis was found dead April 18 in East Palo Alto, Calif. Investigators there ruled his death a suicide.

Among those in attendance at the service were Davis' freshman and sophomore year roommates, a politics professor who gained respect for Davis in precept, President Tilghman and Davis' mother, Roella.

Following a reading from the writing of Khalil Gibran by Grant Edwards '06 and an organ voluntary, a succession of those who knew Davis remembered their friend.

"I didn't really have something scripted to say, but just appreciate someone when you have the chance," said Derrick Raphael '06, one of Davis' sophomore year roommate. "He was very important to me, and I never took the time to say that."

Abraham Bassan '06 called Davis "one of the friendliest, least judgmental people I have ever met." Bassan ended his remarks by reading Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."

"For all of us who knew him, our friendship with Manzili was all but much too short," Bassan concluded.

Lyle Williams '06 was Davis' roommate freshman and sophomore years. He remembered meeting Davis while both were moving into Campbell Hall with their mothers.

"I really felt that he was going to be either a great politician or the next Roger Ebert," Williams said.

Davis was considering law school and was an avid movie buff, friends said last month. He had written about 2000 reviews online.

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Williams continually returned to Davis' reserved, good-natured temperament. "He just had that gentle look in his eye, like everything was okay," Williams said. "We're not meant to be alone; we all have the power to love," Williams added. "In order to survive, we need to express that power and that ability. To express that love to people around you, it gives that person a reason to live. If anything, I feel that Manzili's death should be symbolic of that, that we all need each other."

"He's not dead," Williams concluded. "He's probably sitting right there" — pointing to an empty seat — "you just can't see him."

Politics professor Kenneth Kersch knew Davis through from precept. "One of Manzili's unique qualities was that, despite his gentlemanly reserve, he left a vivid impression on me," Kersch said, remembering Davis as an "almost preternaturally awake" student whose "alertness ... was almost incandescent."

Dean Breidenthal spoke again, saying, "We come to give thanks, but we are also troubled ... We have to name that."

"We are made to be in community," he said. "Since we are so needful of one another, that must mean that community is the last word."

A representative of the family spoke on behalf of Davis' mother, thanking those in attendance.

"You need to know that this is a very difficult day for Mrs. Davis. But knowing that you would be here, she knew that she had to be here."

The representative read a poem written by Davis' sister that was read at his funeral on April 28.

"How does such a quiet spirit reach such great depths of volume?" his sister wrote.

"This last storm overtook [Manzili]," the representative concluded. "But he was very seaworthy. Meet your storms, and meet the sunlight, and you'll be fine."

The Chapel Choir and the Wildcats also performed, and a reception followed the service in Murray-Dodge.