Thea Hunter Memorial and Scholarship
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A number of Thea Hunter's closest friends are trying to raise money to cover the expenses that arose from her unexpected death. Dr. Hunter worked for over a decade as an adjunct professor at a dozen different universities in the NYC metropolitan area while simultaneously juggling numerous jobs from tutoring high school students to serving as a tour guide to training dogs to make ends meet. Her mother suddenly passed away eight months before she died, which only further complicated her financial status. We hope that the money we raise will pay for her memorial service and other expenses. Any remaining money will be used to fund a scholarship or bench at Columbia in her honor.
Dr. Hunter earned her PhD in History at Columbia University and was an expert in legal history, slavery and the Atlantic World.
A memorial service will be held in her honor on Friday, January 25, 2019 from 3:00-5:00pm at Milbank Chapel at Columbia's Teachers College, Columbia University.
Thank you all for the support. The money we raised will cover expenses for burial, the memorial (programs, music, reception), the cleanup and emptying of her apartment. We are hiring an organizer to assist with donating her clothes and furniture to GoodWill and, most of all, to preserving her manuscripts and papers, which we hope to donate to a NYC archive or library. Any remaining money will be used to create a scholarship fund in her name at Columbia University.
GoFundMe has asked how we will be paying for these expenses. The money has been directly deposited into my personal account. I will pay for the expenses using my debt card and checks. I have also set up a separate bank account that will hold any remaining funds after the major expenses are paid. GoFundMe has also asked me about my relation to Thea. She was my close friend. When she went to the hospital on December 17, 2018, she wrote my name and number down on a piece of paper and gave it to the hospital in case of an emergency. A few hours later, she went into cardiac arrest and died. The ER Social Worker and doctor both called me to inform me that she had passed. She has no next of kin except for a brother who is elderly and disabled and lives far from NYC. Aa a result, I have spearheaded efforts to have her body removed from the hospital morgue and cremated. I am working with her brother to authorize all parts of this process but I, along with a cohort of her closest friends, are organizing the memorial and dealing with her apartment and end-of-life business. The donations that people have given have been enormously helpful in this process and ensuring that Thea's body was properly cremated and not lost in the labyrinth of NYC bureaucracy. The money has allowed us to organize a memorial for her to ensure that her soul has a proper homegoing. The donations have helped us with many of the unexpected costs that resulted from her sudden death, namely cleaning out her apartment and getting her estate in order.
Thank you,
Jim Downs
Dr. Hunter earned her PhD in History at Columbia University and was an expert in legal history, slavery and the Atlantic World.
A memorial service will be held in her honor on Friday, January 25, 2019 from 3:00-5:00pm at Milbank Chapel at Columbia's Teachers College, Columbia University.
Thank you all for the support. The money we raised will cover expenses for burial, the memorial (programs, music, reception), the cleanup and emptying of her apartment. We are hiring an organizer to assist with donating her clothes and furniture to GoodWill and, most of all, to preserving her manuscripts and papers, which we hope to donate to a NYC archive or library. Any remaining money will be used to create a scholarship fund in her name at Columbia University.
GoFundMe has asked how we will be paying for these expenses. The money has been directly deposited into my personal account. I will pay for the expenses using my debt card and checks. I have also set up a separate bank account that will hold any remaining funds after the major expenses are paid. GoFundMe has also asked me about my relation to Thea. She was my close friend. When she went to the hospital on December 17, 2018, she wrote my name and number down on a piece of paper and gave it to the hospital in case of an emergency. A few hours later, she went into cardiac arrest and died. The ER Social Worker and doctor both called me to inform me that she had passed. She has no next of kin except for a brother who is elderly and disabled and lives far from NYC. Aa a result, I have spearheaded efforts to have her body removed from the hospital morgue and cremated. I am working with her brother to authorize all parts of this process but I, along with a cohort of her closest friends, are organizing the memorial and dealing with her apartment and end-of-life business. The donations that people have given have been enormously helpful in this process and ensuring that Thea's body was properly cremated and not lost in the labyrinth of NYC bureaucracy. The money has allowed us to organize a memorial for her to ensure that her soul has a proper homegoing. The donations have helped us with many of the unexpected costs that resulted from her sudden death, namely cleaning out her apartment and getting her estate in order.
Thank you,
Jim Downs
Organizer
Jim Downs
Organizer
New York, NY
