Stefanos Tsigrimanis, a doctoral candidate in performance studies, died last Tuesday, Sept. 7, after he was struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle in Brooklyn. He was 29.
His mother, Eleni Tsigrimanis, flew to New York and was at his bedside when he died.
Tsigrimanis, an Athens native, earned his undergraduate degree in Greece and moved to New York City five years ago, where he earned his master's degree in English at Columbia University.
He also taught Greek conversation at Columbia and was to teach elementary modern Greek in the fall.
At a memorial service held for friends and family at St. Paul's Chapel yesterday, those close to Tsigrimanis remembered him for his wit and free spirit.
"He was actually as nice and affable as he seemed," said Jose Munoz, chair of the department of performance studies at NYU. "He had an amazing capacity to be interested in people."
Vangelis Calotychos, associate professor of classics at Columbia University, said, "He was always on his way somewhere, always on his proximity to something."
Colin MacDonald, Tsigrimanis's classmate at Columbia, remembered their close companionship and tendencies to proscrastinate in their studies. But MacDonald praised his friend for his unearthly intelligence.
MacDonald drew a laugh from the somber crowd when he recollected Tsigrimanis's off-beat sense of humor. Tsigrimanis once joked that, if given the chance to read at MacDonald's funeral, he would read the unabridged version of "Moby Dick," then chastise members who tried to leave for the bathroom.
Ellen Cleghorne, another of Tsigrimanis's classmates, remembered him for his magnetism and sense of humor.
"He was small in stature but a giant in generosity of spirit," she said. "He was always passionate about his work, eager to share his extensive knowledge, yet tender with his corrective comments."
Besides a deep investment to his studies, Tsigrimanis was an avid performer. He enjoyed both experimental dance and music, and practiced with many of his classmates.
"That's who Stefanos was — a man who fearless[ly] invited everyone into his life to experience his passions and all new things with him," Cleghorne said.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Stefanos Tsigrimanis passed away on Monday, Sept. 6 and that he received his Masters in Classics. WSN regrets the error.
