Sam Tanenbaum
Professor/Dean Emeritus
Dear Ms. Lewis and Mr. Huppe,
My wife Carol and I are SO sorry to hear of Ben’s death. He was a terrific student in my EE course (E-84) this past semester and also volunteered to take a one-unit special project course to work on a team project with me. The project he chose was to develop a program that could assist homeowners to choose the best way to reduce their electric, gas and water usage (and bills). The team was working with an association of 92 homeowners in a development called Meadowood that was designed in the 80′s and was a model of sustainability at that time. Ben’s team did a great job and presented their work at the end of the semester to a sizable, standing-room-only audience that included many of the members of the architectural firm CEDG (Claremont Environmental Design Group) that designed Meadowood.
Carol took some pictures during the session when all of my teams made their presentations, and I’m enclosing four pictures with Ben. The first shows him waiting at the side of the room for his team’s turn to present their work; the next two were taken during the team’s presentation; and the last picture shows his team talking with some people who had further questions after all the presentations were completed.
The program still needs some additional work, so Ben was one of the students who volunteered to sign up for the project course again in the fall.
It was an honor to work with Ben this past semester. He was SO talented and had such a commitment to making the world a better place. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.
Sincerely,
Jack Ma '14
President, Class of 2014
Dear Class of 2014,
I want to add something more to this. It was a great pleasure working with and getting to know Ben Huppe: He was a mentor for our class, a great co-president, a hard working man, and a good friend to many of us and me. Here, I want to help us to recollect memories about his life and work.
I know he had personal relationships with many members of our class; I know he was a go-to guy for his excellent ability to offer advice to problems and hardships and his frank and honest opinions. He had done great services to a lot of us this way, saving us tons of money that would be spent on psychiatrists. (All right. Politically speaking, we had Dean Bev and the Claremont Monsour Counseling and Psychological Services. But I felt Ben could offer more than what they offered – being a solid friend who is in the same boat.)
Here’s one little-known fact about the 2010 presidential election for our class: We actually independently announced our presidential campaigns and decided a few days later that it’s better to run together as a campaign strategy. Back in the days in the first few months of college when we only know people within our cliques, it’s very likely that we would only vote for the people we know. I still remember the candidates in that heated election: Travis Athougies, Ben and I, Dave Lingenbrink, Sami Koo, and J Brill. We predicted that the Summer Institute (HMCSI) votes would split three ways between Travis, Sami and me; Dave would take the East votes; Sami and Travis would split the North votes; J Brill might take some Linde votes (despite him not being a Freshman); Ben would take the South votes (since he hanged out there a lot); and Ben and I would be splitting the Sontag votes if we don’t cooperate. In fact, it was Ben who suggested for us to run on the same ticket, and, after running through the election analysis I’ve described above, I agreed. And, as you all know, this strategy turned out to be quite successful. For me, it was the best political move I will ever have (I’ll never run for an actual political office – I don’t have time for BS politics), and it also marked the start of a great friendship.
His character made him a great person to be around. Almost everyday, he would hang out around Sontag lounge, working on homework with others and doing fun things. He was a nature “center” for activities; he motivated others to do their homework when homework needed to be done soon, or he urged others to do fun stuff when they are doing too much homework. He pushed others a little bit out of their comfort zones, but still made it worthwhile.
Here’s one story I’m sure a lot of us know: He basically ‘fixed’ our rising sophomore year’s Roomdraw by painstakingly analyzing the priority list and room availabilities and talking to a lot of people, in order to make sure that none of us would live where we won’t like. Eventually he came up with a roomdraw master plan that made everyone happy. (It actually worked!) I remember we stayed up a couple consecutive nights right before the official room draw trying to sort this out, despite important exams happening concurrently with Roomdraw. (Was it Chemistry?) This is just one example out of many where he takes on the leadership role for the benefits of others.
What I remember most about Ben is his friendly and altruistic manner to make sure that everyone around him feels more comfortable and happier. For our class, I’m am very sad to see losing such a great leader; for many of us, losing such a great friend.
Guy Gerbick
Senior Associate Dean of Students
Bob and Maggie,
My deepest condolences go out to you. Ben was a prominent and valuable member of the Mudd community. As you have likely seen from the posts on Ben’s Facebook page, nearly everyone had deep warmth and respect for Ben, including me.
We hired Ben to be a Dorm Mentor for 2012-2013. He may have told you that he applied for the position last year and we didn’t choose him. He came to my office after the selection and asked what he could have done better during his candidacy. He then proceeded during this year to prove to everyone that he could fulfill the role of the job even without holding the title. He applied again. It was an easy decision to give him the job.
The reason it was easy was because when we asked for input from the Mudd community about Ben, people gushed:
“I can’t even conceive of a better mentor. Ben has been an amazing mentor to us Sontag freshmen, despite not living in Sontag and not officially being a mentor. He spends most of his time with us in our dorm lounge. He also teaches us all about what classes we should consider taking, room draw, etc. He’s willing to use his own time to help us with homework or anything else. I cannot recommend him enough.”
“Ben Huppe is super approachable and seems to be liked by tons of freshmen.”
“Ben is very open and easy to talk to.”
“Absolutely yes. He’s not the Mentor at Sontag this year, but he’s far more a lowercase-m mentor to the freshmen there than [other people]. Ben was telling me not to skip class and teaching me how to do laundry and manage the homework load within the first week. He took a Sontag Lounge Frosh gang with little in common and made a tight group of friends (and a very competitive water polo team), from very socially awkward or reserved students, too. Highly recommend.”
“Ben is dedicated to Sontag and I truly believe that he deserves to be a Sontag mentor. He’s always in the lounge hanging out with the frosh and I think that he’d be able to spend a lot of time with the new students.”
“Ben is the most mentor-like person I know. He has inspired me to apply to be a mentor by always being there for the frosh, no matter what. Whenever myself, or any of my friends need help with something, Ben will drop whatever he’s doing to help us. He gives us pep talks before tests, or if we’re going to be up late. He is always willing to listen and advise us, and is always supportive and encouraging. He’s a friend, a mentor, and just a generally great person. He cares deeply about the frosh, and about creating a strong dorm community in Sontag and I can’t imagine anyone being better for the job than him.”
“Ben has spent the entire year helping the freshmen in Sontag Dorm with questions about academics, social life, and anything else we ask him. He has also organized the Sontag freshmen to play games and walk around the other colleges. Ben is clearly good at making freshmen feel at home and welcome, and he is very fun to be around.”
“Great leader, good fit.”
I should also say that Ben, always doing the right thing in the right way (including notably wearing a white shirt and tie to both years’ interviews for the mentor position), came by my office to ask how he did in the process even though he had gotten the position. I had offered to give anyone feedback and he diligently asked. I had the pleasure of reading him the comments above. He was really touched. He became a little weepy for a moment, then we pushed on with our conversation about plans for Sontag.
Ben’s absence will be a constant reminder to us of the good that he did for other people. Congratulations to you for molding a son who chose to use his talents to help so many during his short time here.
Jacob Bandes-Storch '14
Dear Maggie and Bob,
I am so deeply sorry for the loss of your son and an amazing member of our community. I’d like to share with you some of my memories of Ben.
For some context: Ben was my roommate last fall (as he may have told you, I studied abroad in the spring, leaving him the room to himself). Neither of us spent a large amount of time in the room, and we took mostly different classes, so unfortunately we were not as close last year as I now wish we had been. I had known him before that, though — I was in the same dorm as a freshman and good friends with his roommate Andrew. And his twice-co-president Jack was my roommate that year. We would all frequently hang out together in the dorm lounge.
Even the fact that we were roommates last year was a sign of his generosity and sense of community, as he had given me a “pity pull” during room draw in order to keep the Sontag freshmen from the class of 2014 together (he had gotten a very good room draw number, while mine wouldn’t have been able to assure me a roommate of my choice — it also helped that his organizational/leadership skills saw him organizing much of the rising sophomore room draw). And of course, as a roommate he was always easygoing and respectful.
In freshman year Ben took the position of Sontag “dorm jock”, and he would often round up people sitting in the lounge and convince them to go play indoor soccer or inner tube water polo, or support their team. He was also a wildly enthusiastic part of the “frosh-soph games” where freshmen and sophomores competed in various fun events (in both our freshman and sophomore years), and he also participated in other such fun/sporting events throughout the year. As Jack mentioned in his email, he saw to it that people weren’t forgetting to have fun.
He really encouraged people to get involved, in every way possible. When we were freshmen, Sontag (being the newest dorm) hadn’t been considered to have a “personality” yet. Ben was a driving force behind the new “classy” theme, getting the freshmen and others in the dorm to know each other better and instilling a sense of dorm spirit. He and others organized “classy dinners” where we’d reserve a table in the dining hall, set it with a tablecloth, and dress up for dinner at a designated time. And in ’11-’12, he made friends with a group of the new freshmen in Sontag, made them feel welcome, and kept the tradition going.
His great enthusiasm carried over through all parts of his experience too. I remember one instance where, early in our first semester at Mudd, the first time it had rained since we arrived in southern California, Ben and some other students of pacific northwest origin (including myself, being from Portland) were running and frolicking barefoot across the quad, rejoicing at the unexpectedly familiar weather. (Though he never missed a chance to take advantage of the many beautiful sunny days!)
At the same time Ben was an excellent motivator and mentor to many. In our freshman year I saw some of the other freshmen in our dorm struggling to fit in or struggling to keep up with their work. Ben became friends with many people and made them feel welcomed. He was very accessible and approachable, with great empathy, and I occasionally saw him engaged in long supportive talks with other students who, it seemed, he helped to grow themselves throughout the year. He and Jack held “presidential office hours” inviting any students in our class to come visit them in the dining hall during lunch and get advice or share their thoughts about anything and everything. He started the DrySHMC club so that people who chose not to drink could have a place to feel safe and welcomed and have fun during parties. And he would bring people together for study sessions — even when he wasn’t the expert in the particular subject matter, he would make sure we were all staying focused and on track as we worked together. Also as you know he was politically very well-informed and opinionated, and thus taught a lot to those of us who were uninvolved.
From what I saw, it seemed that Ben connected with many people on a very personal level. He had a lot of good friends, and always seemed to have some sort of inside joke with everyone — I remember many images of him being rowdy and laughing hysterically with friends; forging deep and strong relationships that I know all of these people will always remember fondly.
I was so thoroughly looking forward to spending my life in a world where Ben was out there doing great things. His amazing combination of energy and motivation and smarts was one of a kind, and I wish I could have known more from him both about what his future held, and about the great things he had already accomplished. My heart and the hearts of the entire HMC community are with you in this difficult time.
Sincerely,
Lucas Brady
Dear Mr. Huppe and Mrs. Lewis,
I do not know where to start in telling you how important Ben was to us here. I am a rising senior and live in Sontag where Ben lived freshman year and was going to live next year. He cared about Sontag’s culture and people more than anyone I know. His freshman year he organized the freshmen in the dorm and became their unofficial leader, organizing everything from their nightly activities to room draw. Last year, he came back to Sontag every day and became the most important upperclassmen in mentoring the freshmen. I will let some of them tell you about what he did for them; I am sure you will get more than enough emails from them.
Ben and I spent many days and nights discussing Sontag’s community and how to make it stronger and better. During room draw this year, he and I coordinated most of the people who ended up in Sontag, making sure that those people who had been freshmen here, live and socialize here next year. I am not sure I can express how important this is to us. Sontag never had much of a culture before, but through Ben’s efforts, we managed to get most of the former Sontag freshmen back into Sontag, creating a cohesive culture here next year that will continue for years to come. He facilitated the community between freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, bringing us all together as no one else could. You may think I am just flattering him, but I am exaggerating nothing. He brought us all together and had even more plans for next year. I feel as if I owe it to his memory to work as hard as possible to integrate the new freshmen into this community he helped to create.
I was one of the dorm presidents of Sontag last year, a position that Ben was set to take over next year. I would like to say that I sought out Ben specifically to be my successor, but the truth is that he needed no convincing. He cared so much about this dorm that it was never a question that he would run, and I never wanted anyone else to take over for me. Thinking about what will happen to the presidency without him, I literally do not know what will happen next year. He was absolutely perfect for the position.
I could continue on with a hundred more stories, but I think the most meaningful thing I can say is just that he was an amazing friend. He was invaluable to this dorm and all of us here, but he will be missed as a friend even more than he is missed officially. I loved my discussions with him; whether we agreed or disagreed, we had a ton of fun discussing everything from student government and politics, to board games and social gossip. As a friend he can never be replaced, and even as a leader, I am not sure his influence can even be met by half. He was important to all of us, and we will make sure he is remembered.
Sincerely,
Lucas Brady
