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TechnographUI community mourns death of recent grad
Funeral held during weekend for second-year Cornell law student
By Matt Spartz
Posted: 9/27/06 Section: News
A homeless man asked James Morris for some spare change as James strolled down the main bar strip with friends in Carbondale, Ill. Even if James had the change, he didn't give it to him - he took the homeless man into the restaurant where he was about to eat and fixed him up with an entire meal. From then on, whenever James walked down that strip the homeless man was not far behind.
This big-hearted generosity and love for people is what is most remembered of James Hunter Morris, who was killed in a car accident on Sept. 16. While the 2005 University graduate and second-year student at Cornell Law School, Ithaca, N.Y., was driving his Corvette around the dark curve of a rural road, James lost control. The car swerved off and onto the road again before it flipped over, presumably killing him instantly.
James' friends and family said he was the type of guy that filled a room, whether it was at Joe's Brewery, where he was a regular, or a mathematics course for which he was the student teaching assistant. Hearing the large "white boy" known as "Coconut" walk into Calculus 120 whistling Lil' John's "Get Low" was always the pick-me-up that Scott Nixon, senior in LAS, needed for that 8 a.m. course.
But James helped Nixon with more that year than inputting lines of code. James was always there to lend an ear or grab a quick meal.
"How often do you get to say that if it wasn't for my TA, I might not have made it through that first year?" Nixon said.
Professor of mathematics Jerry Uhl handpicked James for his teaching assistant position after recognizing his genius.
"He picked up the math probably faster than anyone I've ever had," Uhl said. "And I've been teaching for 38 years."
A solemn, worn-down Tau Kappa Epsilon brother of James' sat in the Starbuck's on Green Street after a long weekend visiting James' wake and funeral. Shiraz Sherwani, senior in LAS, remembered how the man they called Farva, after the "Super Troopers" character, would come by the house when all of his work was done to just hang out with the guys.
This big-hearted generosity and love for people is what is most remembered of James Hunter Morris, who was killed in a car accident on Sept. 16. While the 2005 University graduate and second-year student at Cornell Law School, Ithaca, N.Y., was driving his Corvette around the dark curve of a rural road, James lost control. The car swerved off and onto the road again before it flipped over, presumably killing him instantly.
James' friends and family said he was the type of guy that filled a room, whether it was at Joe's Brewery, where he was a regular, or a mathematics course for which he was the student teaching assistant. Hearing the large "white boy" known as "Coconut" walk into Calculus 120 whistling Lil' John's "Get Low" was always the pick-me-up that Scott Nixon, senior in LAS, needed for that 8 a.m. course.
But James helped Nixon with more that year than inputting lines of code. James was always there to lend an ear or grab a quick meal.
"How often do you get to say that if it wasn't for my TA, I might not have made it through that first year?" Nixon said.
Professor of mathematics Jerry Uhl handpicked James for his teaching assistant position after recognizing his genius.
"He picked up the math probably faster than anyone I've ever had," Uhl said. "And I've been teaching for 38 years."
A solemn, worn-down Tau Kappa Epsilon brother of James' sat in the Starbuck's on Green Street after a long weekend visiting James' wake and funeral. Shiraz Sherwani, senior in LAS, remembered how the man they called Farva, after the "Super Troopers" character, would come by the house when all of his work was done to just hang out with the guys.
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