Joseph M. Hanzich '06, shown here after attending the U.S. Open in New York City last week, was found dead Thursday night in his apartment near Yale Law School, where he was a first-year student.

Joseph M. Hanzich '06, an accomplished Yale Law School first-year who emerged as a vibrant student political leader while studying government at Harvard, was found dead in his New Haven, Conn., apartment on Thursday, Yale officials said.

Hanzich died of natural causes, Yale and New Haven police officials confirmed on Saturday, but they did not release details on the circumstances surrounding his death.

Hanzich, a native of Orange County, Calif., earned a number of academic honors at Harvard and served as a leader of several campus groups. He won a prestigious scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge, where he earned a master’s degree in public health this year. He also led the Harvard College Democrats as vice president.

"Joey was a person that made others around him better people," said Eric “Ricky” M. Hanzich '11, Hanzich's younger brother. "He was that person that people wanted to be around who exuded joy throughout his life. There was never an unhappy moment with him."

At Harvard, Hanzich, a resident of Leverett House, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society, a John Harvard Scholar, a Detur Book Prize winner, and a finalist for the Rhodes scholarship.

Outside of the classroom, Hanzich was a respected leader of the College Democrats and the director of Harvard's Relay for Life cancer fundraiser.

Hanzich joined the American Cancer Society after a friend was diagnosed with cancer, Yale Law School Dean Harold H. Koh ’75 wrote in a letter to the law school community. Hanzich also volunteered in nursing homes and provided Spanish translation services to the poor in a Harvard Law School legal services clinic, Koh wrote.

"Joey Hanzich did so much with his life; he would have done so much more,” Koh wrote. “He was a gifted and wonderful young man. How privileged we were to have him with us, even for such a short time."

Leverett Housemaster and physics professor Howard Georgi wrote in an e-mail Saturday night to the Leverett community that it was Hanzich’s “love of his community and its people”—not his impressive academic honors—that “radiated through his smile.”

“His enthusiasm for everything he did infected many of us in the House and his smile is something that we will never forget,” he wrote.

Kirstin Woody, a fellow competitor for the Rhodes scholarship, first met Hanzich when the two were in San Francisco for final interviews in the competition. Woody and Hanzich both studied in England the following year and grew to be close friends.

"He's one of those individuals that when anybody meets him, they just know that it's something incredibly special," she said.

Hanzich was very athletic and loved sports, especially tennis, Woody said. The two traveled to Wimbledon and the U.S. Open together this year.

Hanzich told Woody last weekend that he was excited to be at Yale and was eager to use his education to change the world.

"He said 'You know, one thing I just appreciate so much is that they're teaching us not how the world is, but how it can be,'" she said. "That's everything he stood for—what we can do to challenge the status quo."

Indeed, to many of his friends, Hanzich seemed to be a perfect candidate to be president of the United States one day, Ricky Hanzich said.

"He decided to pursue a life of public service because he truly believed that he could effect the most positive change for the largest amount of people," Hanzich said. "He wanted to learn how to change America for the better for mankind. He loved this nation more than anyone I've known.”

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached abalkris@fas.harvard.edu.