UWindsor flag at half-staffA campus service Friday will mourn five members of the UWindsor community who died in a plane crash Jan. 8 in Tehran.

Memorial service to mourn lives lost in plane crash

A memorial service Friday will bring together friends and colleagues to mourn five members of the UWindsor community who died in the crash of a Ukrainian airplane Wednesday.

Doctoral student of civil engineering Pedram Jadidi; biology research assistant Samira Bashiri and her spouse Hamidreza Setareh Kokab, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering; and civil engineering doctoral student Zahra Naghibi and her spouse Mohammad Abbaspour Ghadi are among 176 passengers and crew killed.

“This is a real tragedy for our institution,” said UWindsor president Robert Gordon. “These were five extraordinary individuals who embodied what our University is all about.”

The campus community is invited to the memorial service at 1 p.m. Jan. 10 in the CAW Student Centre’s second-floor Alumni Auditorium. It will be live-streamed through YouTube (www.youtube.com/uwindsor) for those that cannot attend. The video feed will be screened simultaneously in room 2101, Centre for Engineering Innovation.

“This is an important healing event for all those grieving,” Dr. Gordon said. “We want friends and family around the world to be able to participate.”

A fund to commemorate these victims is now accepting donations:

  • by credit card online at www.uwindsor.ca/alumni/remembering-flight-ps752;
  • by cheque, written to “University of Windsor” with “Remembering Flight PS752” in the memo;
  • by contacting Katie Mazzuca, major gift officer in the Faculty of Engineering at 519-253-3000, ext. 5959 or katie.mazzuca@uwindsor.ca to answer any questions related to the memorial fund, or to set up a payroll pledge for faculty or staff.

The University offers resources for anyone needing assistance in dealing with their grief; find details here.