"His most outstanding feature was that he wasso well-liked by so many people [in high school],and the same is true here," she added.

Okrent, who played rugby at Harvard, committedhimself to public service during high school.During his senior year, he received the school'sCunningham Award, an honor voted by the seniorclass for a senior who best exemplifies thequalities of leadership public service andacademic achievement.

"He never put on airs. He never sought toembellish himself in a pretentious way," saidLawrence Okrent.

"He was a great kid," Okrent added. "When hewas growing up, we never talked about Harvard. Hegot into Harvard with the things that camenaturally to him."

David Okrent took a semester off from Harvardlast spring. He spent the time creating a computermonitoring system for an industrial firm inChicago, his father said.

"He was not strongly identified to a path quiteyet," Lawrence Okrent said, adding that his sonhad taken electives in music and finance. "He wasstill tasting things."

David Okrent's first-year entryway mates saidthey remembered him as a serious student whoalways had time for conversations with friends.

"He was very laid-back, so easy to get alongwith," said Linda Moon '99, who lived upstairsform Okrent as a first-year in Lionel Hall's Bentryway.

"He was always there for you when you needed totalk to someone, always there to help you withyour homework. He would play his guitar for me,"she added.

Okrent's family and friends also remembered his"brilliance" when it came to mathematics.

Okrent, who switched to physics at thebeginning of his junior year, served as a courseassistant in Math 21b last fall.

Lawrence Okrent, who taught high school mathfor several years, said by the time David was ineleventh grade, "he knew everything I had everseen."

"He was brilliant," said long-time friendDaniel M. Ring '99, who also attended EvanstonTownship High school with Okrent.

"When you're as smart as he is, you expect himjust to be in the library studying but he waspopular and committed to students," Ring said.

"He was a real renaissance man," Ring added.

A gathering will be held tonight at 9 p.m. inthe Cabot House Living Room to remember Okrent,according to James Ware. Students will read poetryand personal reflections. President Neil L.Rudenstine is expected to attend.

Huppe said a formal campus memorial service isbeing discussed.

"We are waiting to find out the wishes of thefamily and of the community," Huppe said.

Okrent is survived by his parents and two oldersisters.

--Barbara E. Martinez contributed to thereporting of this story.