Harvard scheduled to hold memorial service for Indian-American student

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Harvard is holding a memorial service Nov. 8 for Indian-American senior Alexander H. Patel, who, according to Felix Browne, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, committed suicide in late October, at the age of 22.

“Many of us knew Alexander as a brilliant and supportive classmate, and as a true friend. Both the service and the reception will provide the opportunity for those in our community whose lives were touched by Alexander to come together,” Rakesh Khurana, Dean of the College, wrote in an email.

Patel was a Philosophy and Mathematics double major along with being an award-winning former Crimson News editor.

According to the Crimson News, he attended high school in Denver, Colorado before coming to Harvard where he worked as a teaching fellow for various Computer Science classes, conducted research in a lab run by Computer Science professor Margo I. Seltzer and held a side-job as an information technology consultant.

At The Crimson, Patel covered Harvard Business School and served on the paper’s data analysis team. His 2015 story on the faculty political donations won him a national award.

Peers and professors remember Patel as a wonderful student and a devoted friend and family member. “He was an unbelievable friend, and he never hesitated to bring me into his life or to be generous with his time. He was one of the best people I ever knew. He deserves to be remembered as such,” Christopher P. Barry, one of Patel’s high school friends, told the Crimson News.