"Instead of mourning, I thank God for the two years we had together, and we'll see each other in the end," he said. "God deserves the best, and the best was Harvard and Deshaun. If the good die young, the great must die younger."

Hunt added, "Ironically, I'm not sad. I know that anyone who touched that many people's lives cannot die. I'm happy that God brought our paths together because now I know eternal friendship and eternal love."

Eric M. Silberstein '98 and Senior Class Marshal Andwele J. Lewis '98 said Hill and Stephens gave them not only friendship and love, but also provided inspiration for their lives.

Lewis, an engineering sciences concentrator who knew the two students through various science classes, praised them for their "brilliance, confidence and selflessness."

Silberstein added, "[Stephens] taught me what it means to be a great teacher, and he showed me what it means to be a great human being."

"Perhaps all we can do in life is to inspire others, and Harvard did that," said Silberstein, who worked with Stephens in the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) Fresh Pond Youth Enrichment Program and at Microsoft Corp.

In Their Memories

Hill and Stephens live on in the memories of numerous Harvard undergraduates, but if close friends of the duo have their way, they will also live on through scholarship funds and a rap album to be released later this year.

P. Alexus "Alex" Kellogg '99 organized a poetry reading in Pforzheimer House two Fridays ago on behalf of scholarship funds set up in Hill's and Stephens' names.

Kellogg said the event, which raised nearly $500, attracted more than 250 people. Many performers read poems they had written about the deaths, he said.

Kellogg said he organized the event because "I thought it was important to do my little part."

Aaron S. Montgomery '00, who met the two students in BMF and the Black Students Association (BSA), said he and his Dunster roommate--BSA Treasurer McComma Grayson '00--are also planning to contribute to the scholarship funds.

They plan to donate $1,000 from Grayson-Montgomery Enterprises--a network marketing company the two co-founded earlier this year--to the fund.

According to Montgomery, who is now the BMF treasurer, Grayson-Montgomery Enterprises receives a commission for each new subscriber it signs up on behalf of PointCast, an Internet news service located at www.pointcast.com. Montgomery said that the more students who subscribe to the news service, the more money they will be able to donate.

A musical tribute to the duo will also come out later this year if A. Ryan Leslie '98, Bernard and Clayton have their way.

"In the black community, there are so many who are doing wrong, and these two people who were doing well, doing right, the best our nation had to offer, black, white, Asian or Hispanic, were struck down at a critical moment in their lives, and it hurts," said Clayton, who wrote and performed songs for the album.