Van Druff said he would remember Afolabi practicing his lectures by playing his presentation slides on the living room television.

In the evenings, Afolabi would curl up to a few episodes of NBC’s “30 Rock” every now and then.

“He wasn’t just my partner,” van Druff said. “He was my best friend.”

The two would make gourmet dinners, homemade ice cream, and pastries from scratch. Kathleen Afolabi, his mother, said that her son was particularly talented with rolling dough. She remembers his popovers, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls.

Steele remembers Afolabi’s sweet potato gnocchi, and van Druff remembers that Afolabi would keep logs of homemade cookie dough frozen and slice a few for freshly baked cookies.

Of course, he was always humble about his cooking ability, just as he was with all his other accomplishments.

Afolabi was recently appointed adjunct lecturer at Brown, where he was teaching two classes this fall while continuing work on his doctorate at the Harvard Ed School. This had been his dream, van Druff said, getting the opportunity to be a lecturer and teaching his own class.

He was only a few weeks in when he died.

“He’s 31 years old,” Kathleen Afolabi said. “He’s got so much to live for, so much to contribute to life. He’s not going to have an opportunity to do that.”

Flipping through the family photos of her son when he was a kid, she focused on those memories that would remain with her—his hazel eyes and the close-up shot of his long, dark eyelashes. And then there was his unforgettable smile.

“He really just had this kind of brightness, this high energy about him,” Long said. “He was a character—this really warm, bright person with a really great laugh ... He was just a bright light.”

In addition to his mother, he is survived by his father Kolajo, sister Yea, brother Dele, and his partner, van Druff.

—Staff writer Xi Yu can be reached at xyu@college.harvard.edu.