March/April 2010
Around the Quads
Class of 2012 Student Passes Away
John David “JD” Fernandez ’12, known by classmates and peers for his optimism and political convictions, died from pneumonia on January 16. Fernandez was vice president of the Columbia University Libertarians and contributed to the Web site of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, which works on “advancing the scholarship of liberty” in the tradition of the Austrian school of economic thought. Fernandez was planning to major in economics and philosophy. On his personal blog, The Liberty Review, he described himself as “a stormtrooper of the Yankee Universe and a classic liberal of the Misesian strand.”
Fernandez attended a weeklong program at Mises University last summer. Eric Staib, a senior at the University of Oklahoma, attended the program with Fernandez and noted in Spectator that money is being raised to create an award in his name.
The Spectator article included a number of tributes, including: “He was a whirlwind of energy confined to a wheelchair. Every time I’m on the grounds of Columbia, I’ll think of JD,” wrote CJ Maloney — a blogger for Mises who spoke at Columbia last fall at Fernandez’s invitation — in an e-mail. Also, “He served as a huge inspiration to me. I never heard him complain,” noted Stephan Vincenzo ’12, who had been friends with Fernandez for two years.
Jesse Thiessen ’11 Arts