Igor Zhukovsky '09 took his own life at the age of 22 on May 7.A public safety officer discovered Zhukovsky during safety rounds in Charles River Lot, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan. Zhukovsky, who was from Greenwich, Conn., is survived by his parents, Gennady and Yelena Zhukovsky. Zhuvoksy was an Economics major and a Business Studies minor.

"[Zhukovsky] was really, really funny. His friends actually called him Master of One-Liners," Yelena said. She recalled her son's fondness for writing, describing how in the second grade, despite facing some language difficulties after his family's immigration to the United States from Kiev, Ukraine, Zhukovsky succeeded in writing a 17-page autobiography for a school assignment. Zhukovsky was also interested in music, movies and traveling, according to Yelena.

A memorial service for Zhukovsky led by University Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Elyse Winick May 12 in Rapaporte Treasure Hall was attended by over 50 students, faculty and administrators.

Winick encouraged the attendees to reach out to one another in their grief and share their memories of Zhukovsky. Several of Zhukovsky's friends and professors, as well as Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, spoke.

"[Zhukovsky] was one of the first people who I met at Brandeis, and he made me feel so welcome," recalled Liz Pascale '09 at the memorial.

Amy Klesert '09 remembered at the service that "[Zhukovsky] had the sort of personality where he would drop anything that he was doing so that you could talk to him."

Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), who also spoke at the memorial, later told the Justice that Zhukovsky had taken his class "Museum and Public Memory" in spring 2009. Auslander elaborated that during the class, which focused on presenting museums using new technology, Zhukovsky helped students conceptualize an exhibition project on the Rose Art Museum.

The exhibition, which was displayed in the Shapiro Art Gallery during the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, illustrated how the museum has been historically affected by the economy in terms of the Dow Jones industrial index. Auslander remarked, "In Igor's typical way, he found an imaginative way to tell a story in a way that was humorous and unexpected, shocking his audience into a new level of awareness."

In light of his contribution to the student exhibition project, Zhukovsky was also remembered at a symposium held at the Rose Art Museum May 11 in honor of current museum director Michael Rush and museum staff.

Since 2005, Zhukovsky had been working with his high school friends Ernie Zahn and Tom Stroll on a film titled Niente: The Movie, which explores what it means to be human.

"All three of us had been working on the film for so long that our motivator was to just get it done, now Tom and I want to do it for [Zhukovsky]," wrote Zahn in an e-mail to the Justice. Zahn said that they will preserve Zhukovsky's contributions to the movie.

On May 10, Zahn, Stroll and the cast of the movie signed a collage of pictures of Zhukovsky along with a mission statement saying, "[Zhukovsky's] spirit may no longer be in the vessel shards of his body and we may not have his last will and testament but with your help we can make this movie the new vessel for Igor's voice to speak once more."

Ethan Goldstein '10, who considers himself a good friend of Zhukovsky, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "[Zhukovsky] was loved and highly valued by all his friends."

Yelena said that Zhukovsky was planning to find a job in either finance or marketing after graduating from Brandeis. She added that he was considering an Master of Business Adminstration. "There were a lot of plans," she said.

"[Zhukovsky] mentioned numerous amounts of times, a hundred times, that [Brandeis] was the best four years in his life," Yelena added.



-Hannah Kirsch contributed

reporting.