Edward P. Chen ’01, entrepreneur, stock trader and an “ebullient” former Kirkland House resident died of a fall in California on Mar. 18. He was 23.

Friends said that medication Chen was taking for bipolar disorder may have affected his balance and contributed to his fatal fall from a 150-ft. cliff near Carmel, Calif.

Friends remember Chen for being outgoing and kind-spirited, and say they were shocked to hear of his illness and death.

“He was one of those people who brightens your day,” said Amy Chen ’01, who was not related to Edward Chen.

Kirkland House Master Tom Conley said Chen was an “ebullient” member of the House and “liked to talk about everything from physics and letters to baseball.”

“He loved life,” Conley said.

Chen suffered a nervous breakdown in January and spent several weeks in the hospital.

He recovered enough to return to his job as a financial analyst for Intel Corporation in March, friends said.

Before returning to work, he joined his parents on a family vacation to visit cousins in Oregon.

On the return drive to his home in San Jose, he stopped at a scenic lookout overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Carmel.

His body was found at the foot of the cliff.

His camera case, which was found in his car, was empty, suggesting to friends and family that he might have stopped to take a photograph of the view.

Chen, an economics concentrator, started a company called BizTech Enterprizes while at Harvard.

“The company was Ed’s idea, but he always wanted to share his successes with others,” John Marshall ’01 said.

Encouraged by his successful investment of a gift of money given to him by his parents upon graduating from high school, Chen applied his money-managing talents to his company.