Memorial Service Planned to Honor Graduate Student

A memorial service will be held for Thomas J. McDonnell, a fourth-year graduate student who was found dead last month, in Memorial Church at noon on Tuesday, February 2.

The 25-year-old McDonnell was buried on January 4 in his hometwn of Buffalo, N.Y., eight days after grad school officials discovered his body.

A coroner's report has yet to be completed on the cause of McDonnell's death.

A former president of the Graduate Student Council and a karate instructor, McDonnell worked at the biochemistry laboratories and had previously been a teaching fellow for Biochemistry 10, "Introductory Biochemistry and Molecular Biology."

Helga B. Doty, senior research associate in the department, described McDonnell as "extremely intelligent" and good-natured. "He was always doing something for somebody," she added.

As council president, McDonnell displayed his concern for fellow students as he tried to create a graduate student center, Richard A. Kraus, associate dean of administration of the school, said yesterday.

McDonnell was an honor graduate of the California Institute of Technology where he was also involved in student activities, Doty said. McDonnell had also been involved in arms control studies and in the Center for Science and International Affairs.