The Justice

Zhukovsky [Click to enlarge]

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."

Continued...

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