Jeremy Herbstritt was a man of energy. His mother, Peggy Herbstritt, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that from the time he was born, on into graduate school, Jeremy only slept a couple hours a day.
The days were simply too short for him, but the liveliness of his character stretched these days as tight as they could possibly stretch, tighter than most will ever see them stretched, until he had exhausted that day's goal and prepared for the next.
Before entering Virginia Tech's civil engineering graduate school in June of 2006, Herbstritt, a Pennsylvania native, earned two undergraduate degrees from Penn State University, one in biochemistry and molecular biology in 2003, the other in civil engineering in 2006.
Civil engineering professor Panos Diplas was Herbstritt's advisor at Tech. Diplas and Herbstritt worked closely together on a research project set on the lower Roanoke River in North Carolina, focusing on the effect of reservoir releases on the river.
"Jeremy was very energetic, very inquisitive, and a person that was always here to help others," Diplas said.
According to Diplas, Jeremy was able to give the Roanoke River project a major push.
"He was very capable of making contacts with others, trying to find the necessary information, and he was incredibly resourceful locating people and information of benefit to the project," Diplas said. "Jeremy had the capacity to make everyone around him better."
It was this ease and care that drew people towards Herbstritt. A close friend, electrical engineering graduate student Ken Staton, said that he first met Herbstritt at a party Stanton threw for people in his building.
"Jeremy made a Kramer-like entrance, blasting in the door and immediately began chatting. He lit up the room, got to know everyone, and made quite a few friends that night," said Stanton in an e-mail interview.
Stanton went on to describe Herbstritt's manner of conversation.
"He would talk up a storm, sharing stories, talking about random topics, and always wanting to learn what you cared about and were interested in," he said.
As an example of his selflessness, Stanton cited Herbstritt's willingness to drive car-less international students on errands.
"If you asked him for help, he would drop what he was doing, and if you didn't ask him for help but needed it, he would give it too," said Stanton.
Herbstritt possessed a passion for running, and he himself ran several marathons. This passion was one instilled by Jeremy and similarly possessed by the rest of his family. On the Monday of the shootings Jeremy's parents watched as his sister Jen ran in the Boston Marathon. Stanton recounted a story told by her. "She says that Jeremy's legs ran the last few miles of the race, as she hit a wall at the 20 mile marker, but found a sudden boost a short time later."
Aside from running, he enjoyed hiking, biking, kayaking, and anything related to the outdoors. He was said to ride his bike to school whenever possible. It is this love and energy for the outside world that Herbstritt planned on translating into a career.
"Jeremy was very much interested in environmental issues, and this was certainly within that area of the project he was involved in," Diplas said.
Stanton expanded on Herbstritt's career pursuit.
"Jeremy loves the outdoors, and preserving it. He was highly dedicated to his work in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and wanted to pursue a career in water resources protection," Stanton said.
Herbstritt is described with tender loving adjectives charged with the lasting impression left by him on everyone he touched. He is described as caring, hardworking, hilarious and random; a man steadfast in his pursuit of a goal, to whom the word "no" was an impossibility. To friends he was a great listener, an inspiration. Stanton, though, feels these past tense verbs are inappropriate and unnecessary.
"You may notice I talk about who Jeremy is in the present tense — this is intentional, as he still lives inside of each one of us who got to know him. Jeremy used to live upstairs above me — now he lives up above all of us," Stanton said.
