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Lafayette College Arts Society
Dan O'NeilIt is with great sorrow that we note the passing of Dan O'Neil '06, who died in the shootings at Virginia Tech, where he was working on a graduate degree in environmental engineering, on April 16, 2007. Dan was Vice-President of the Arts Society in 2005–2006 and a two-year Arts House resident. He organized Café Nights and Guitar Jams, and performed at four Block pARTies. He was a popular member of the Parson(s) Street and Williams Center communities, and we miss him.

If you'd like to send us your stories about Dan, we'll post them here. Please let us know if you'd like your note to be anonymous.

The College has established the Daniel P. O'Neil '06 Memorial Fund, which supports senior projects in engineering, with preference to civil engineering majors and those active in the arts on campus. To make a secure gift online, click here.
This lovely and welcoming plaza behind Colton Chapel was dedicated in Dan's memory on November 11, 2007, just before the Afternoon of A Cappella Concert, in a ceremony attended by Dan's family and friends.
Dan's friends and musical collaborators Amanda Driscoll '06 and Matt Roy '07 sang one of his songs. Arts Society President Tim Zirkel '08 offered brief remarks (below).
After Dan graduated, I moved into what had been his room in the Arts House. He had set it up as a comfortable space for entertaining, and I was pleased that he’d left the couch behind; the room is still one of the best spaces on Parson(s) Street for hanging out with friends.

Dan really appreciated his friends, and sought out friendly spaces. You’ve heard about his habit of showing up in other Arts Houses with his guitar just to hang out and play while his friends were studying. He liked to hang out on the lawns on Parson(s) Street or on the Quad, and you know he loved to have people around when he played his guitar in Gilbert’s back room.

One of the things that has struck me about this plaza in the weeks since it opened is that every time I go by (even at odd hours after midnight), there are students hanging out here. It’s the sort of place Dan would have been found with his guitar and his friends on a sunny afternoon—much like this one—so I’m glad that it’s being dedicated in his memory. May it always be full of friends.
Dan's friends in his home town have established the Daniel O'Neil Memorial Fund, which provides scholarships to graduating seniors from Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Rhode Island, who have financial need and wish to attend college. Scholarships are awarded to students who have participated in band or chorus and have demonstrated the same passion and commitment to music that Dan did.

Donations may be sent to RI Foundation, One Union Square, Providence, RI 02903.

The Memorial Fund is also raising money through sales of Resident Hippy, a CD of Dan's original music, recorded at Lafayette and Virginia Tech. CDs may be ordered for $10 here.


This is the text of a letter sent to Dan's classmates in mid-June 2007.

Dear Classmates:

As you all know, we were devastated to hear the news that our classmate Dan O’Neil was among those killed at Virginia Tech on April 16th, 2007.   Dan was in graduate school there, studying environmental engineering.

At Lafayette, Dan excelled in the classroom as a civil engineering major.  He was vice president of the Arts Society, a member of the Marquis Players acting group, lived for two years in the Arts Houses, and was always playing the guitar.  As many of his friends remember, he was famous for loving Dunkin’ Donuts and always appreciated those who would take the drive with him.  Dan was a truly special member of our class – and he will continue to be missed.

In the days following his death, Dan’s family and friends established the Dan O’Neil Music Scholarship fund in Rhode Island.  Here at Lafayette, many people called wanting to start a memorial effort as well.  Dan’s life and loss touched not only his classmates, but many other students, alumni, friends, and community members.  It is in that spirit that an idea to create a memorial fund at Lafayette began.

In the beginning stages of planning, Lafayette heard from many of Dan’s friends and was in close communication with us as class officers, as well as Allison Quensen Blatt of the Williams Center and Professor David Brandes in Civil Engineering.

Several gifts have already been received and a temporary fund was established in Dan’s memory.  Now, after consultation with Dan’s parents and family, the Daniel P. O’Neil Memorial Fund will be created as a part of Lafayette’s permanent endowment.  His family decided that they would like the fund to be designated to support projects of senior engineering students – such as individual research, honors work, or design projects. 

We wanted to let you know about these developments, and to invite you to support the fund in honor of Dan.  This will be a permanent tribute to his memory and will truly help Lafayette students who share his passions.  This is an opportunity for our class to be a part of the initial gift that creates the endowment.

You can make your gift to Dan’s fund by returning the enclosed card and envelope, or by going online to www.lafayette.edu and using the Giving to Lafayette link.  Please be sure to enter Dan O’Neil Memorial Fund in the ‘other’ designation area.

This has been a very sad time for us as a class and as a College.  We hope that this memorial to Dan will make a strong statement about his impact on all of us.  If you have any questions about the fund or anything else please feel free to call or email either of us at any time, or to get in touch with Debbie Rhebergen `03, Assistant Director of the Annual Fund at rhebergd@lafayette.edu or (610) 330-5013.

Thank you and all the best,
                
Melissa Spitz `06                        Kelly Barrows `06
Class Fund Manager                    Class President
(973) 224-2873                       (570) 212-1061
spitzm@alumni.lafayette.edu       barrowsk@alumni.lafayette.edu

After he’d worked for me for a year as an usher at the Williams Center, Dan announced, “You should hire me to work in the box office next year.”  (He was not a subtle fellow.) That’s how we came to spend four hours a week together during his senior year.
 
Dan was an unique mixture of straight-edge New England preppie and bead-wearing guitar-slinging neo-hippie, enthusiastic about a variety of interests, so every time he came to work, there was always something new to talk about. During the Winter Olympics, he explained the intricacies of the snowboarding competitions, saying he’d tried “just about every extreme sport.” One soggy day, he grumbled about the Quad’s deficiencies in handling rainwater runoff, and declared that he knew he could fix it if he had enough time and money. He was an expert secondhand shopper who often showed up sporting a cool vintage t-shirt or jacket. He almost always brought a book with him—usually something he was reading just for fun, rarely a textbook. Occasionally, when box office business was slow, Dan and I would order a pizza and just sit and talk. (Of course, he always bolted as soon as his shift was over—Dan never sat still for long.)
 
In addition to his work at the Williams Center, Dan was an enthusiastic, committed leader of the Arts Society. He shared his passions for music and cooking by coordinating guitar jams and Café Nights, and planning menus for Progressive Dinners. He hosted two Afternoon of A Cappella concerts, and was a fixture at the annual Block pARTy.
 
One of the great joys of working at Lafayette is the chance to know, work with, learn from, and cherish smart, talented young adults like Dan, who was a delight and a vibrant member of the campus arts community. Thinking of him brings a smile, but thinking of him in the past tense is not easy.

Allison Quensen Blatt
Operations Director, Williams Center for the Arts
Advisor, Lafayette College Arts Society
last updated July 24, 2009

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