Dead ONU student hosted party, dad says
By DAVID TRINKO
419-993-2098
dtrinko@limanews.com
___ADA — An Ohio Northern University senior who died Tuesday had friends over the night before he died, his father said.
___Derek Charles Falk, 21, died Tuesday in his bed at his off-campus housing at 325 E. Monfort. His roommates found him there without any obvious signs of trauma. His father, Barry Falk, said Thursday his son apparently had a get-together with friends the previous night, a gathering before classes began Tuesday.
___“He had a couple of friends over, but not a big party or anything,” said Barry Falk, relaying information from his son’s friends and police investigators. “There’s not a whole lot of information or anything either. The police and uni-versity are trying to keep us informed.”
___Dr. Lawrence Kuk, the Hardin County coroner, said he received a preliminary finding from the Montgomery County coroner’s office, but it was inconclusive.
___“I’ll have to wait for a full pathology and toxicology report before I can make a ruling,” he said.
___The final autopsy results could be available within two weeks or could take as long as six weeks.
___Barry Falk said he hadn’t heard any word on the cause of death yet and said he eagerly awaited the autopsy results. He said his son did have some problems eight months ago involving incontinence, and he passed that information along to the pathologist.
___Family and friends gathered for a funeral service Thursday. Barry Falk said several of his son’s fraternity brothers from Delta Sigma Phi helped with the services. They brought many of his belongings to the family’s home in Harpster, near Upper Sandusky, on Wednesday and later led a candlelight vigil for their deceased fraternity brother.
___“The fraternity’s been very helpful. They’ll have some pallbearers and give a little eulogy or talk at the funeral,” the elder Falk said. “They were very close to him. Derek really grew attached to those people, those boys. I never belonged to a fraternity before, but it’s obvious there were bonds and those bonds were tight.”
___Ohio Northern’s campus includes four sororities and seven fraternities, with nearly 30 percent of its 3,400 students belonging to one of those organizations.
___Derek Falk, a 2002 Upper Sandusky graduate, was a basketball player during his high school days. He was a first-team all-Northern Ohio League selection during his senior year, averaging 14.5 points per game and five rebounds per game on his way to a third-team all-Northwest Ohio selection.
___University President Kendall Baker said he hoped the autopsy results might bring closure for the mourning students and family. After Wednesday’s vigil, he said he admired how the Greek and non-Greek students united as the campus suffered through its third death in the past several years.
___“This could happen to anyone,” Baker said. “One of the things that is important to notice is there were a lot of non-Greek people at this vigil. People from the residence halls have come out too. A lot of people were wearing their letters on their shirts, but a lot of other people came to mourn too. This is a loss to our student community.”
___Fraternity chapter president Matt Eberhardt described a fun-loving classmate, noting his fondness for jumping off a trampoline into a baby pool and for watching the Indianapolis Colts.
___Falk’s father shared similar memories as he mourned the loss.
___“He made a huge impact on a lot of people,” Barry Falk said. “He was a fun-loving kid who lived life to the fullest every day. Who can ask for a better son, all the way around? Kids will be kids and will get into trouble from time to time. But he just had a pure heart.”
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