The University of Arizona held a candlelight vigil in honor of Thomas Meixner, professor and head of the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, who was killed by a former employee of the University in a campus shooting on Wednesday afternoon.
University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins and Father Emmanuel Taylor, associate pastor at St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center, spoke at the event attended by approximately 200 people.
A former graduate student at the university, 46-year-old Murad Dervish, was arrested several hours after the murder just outside of Gila Bend, while reportedly attempting to flee into Mexico.
Dervish, who has a history of violence, was fired from the hydrology department last year. Despite the fact that he was banned from the building and from the university grounds in February, he returned to shoot Professor Meixner four times with a nine millimeter handgun.
He told officers that he “just felt so disrespected by the whole department.”
“Dr. Meixner, an international force in his field of hydrology and atmospheric sciences and a kind and warm man, had a tremendous impact on his department and the students he mentored,” Robbins wrote in a message to campus Thursday. “Our hearts break for his family, students, colleagues, and our entire campus community. He set a wonderful example for all of us on how to be a true servant leader in life, and he will not be forgotten.”
Meixner is remembered as an “incredible son, brother, husband, father, uncle, colleague and friend, and as an optimistic, selfless and a passionate teacher.”
“He was passionate about hydrology, and one of the last acts he performed on this Earth was to teach a class. He described his work as ‘making the world better through biogeochemistry,’ but to us, he was trying to save the world’s most precious resource,” his family wrote in a statement. “He recently retweeted the following quote: ‘Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.’ Tom certainly lived this. He will be forever loved and missed by so many who knew him.”
Professor Meixner is survived by his wife, Kathleen Cotter Meixner, and sons Sean and Brendan.