One of my favorite people that I've worked with, a customer of ours, died last night. Her name was Betty, and she was the mom of my contact person at the store. I saw her just as frequently as her daughter, at the shows, and she was a really sweet person.

She was diagnosed with colon cancer, and they'd been trying to treat her for a few weeks now.

This is not the first time a customer of ours has died; one of Matt's clients died earlier this year. It's still a bit of a shock.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 2 killed, 4 hurt in Somerset blaze
A 21-year-old Franklin Township volunteer firefighter and a 75-year-old woman were killed this morning in a house fire that also left at least four other firefighters injured, authorities said.

Kevin Apuzzio, a Rutgers University student, led a crew of five firefighters into the home in an attempt to rescue residents Betty and Bill Scott, but the first floor collapsed amid their search and Apuzzio was trapped inside, said Wells Wilson, spokesman for the East Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Company.

[...]

The four other firefighters in Apuzzio's search crew also suffered injuries including minor burns and smoke inhalation after the first floor collapsed, Wilson said.

[...]

Apuzzio was a criminal justice major at Rutgers and had graduated from Union Catholic High School in 2002. He was a peer leader and an emergency medical technician at his high school, said Assistant Principal Karen Piasecki, who taught Apuzzio history.

"He was a great member of the Union Catholic community," Piasecki said. "He was just such a likable kid. Everybody liked Kevin. He was just really a great young man."

--Matt Dowling, The Star-Ledger

I just read this on Linz's Livejournal. I went to school with Kevin. I think I'm very much in shock about it... I knew him somewhere between friend and acquaintance. I saw him every day at school, spoke with him almost every school day... I actually have photos of him at the senior retreat... I've seen his profile on MySpace, not sure if I should friend him or not (a tricky situation when the people you knew 5 years ago have probably changed as much as you have)...

This... freshman...sophomore...junior...senior in high school... was leading a group of firefighters... What?! How did that happen? Kevin was a good guy. He was funny, but was never offensive. Catholic, but never exclusive. A genuinely nice man. And a hero, when all is said and done.

This is truly terrible news.