May 23, 2015
Hundreds of people were present to mourn the death of Derrick Griffith in the Bronx Friday, The New York Daily News reports. Griffith was one of eight people who died in the tragic Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia earlier this month that injured more than 200.
Griffith, 42, was a professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) and had recently finished his Ph.D. He was set to walk at graduation next week.
"He cared about his students...I believe he really made a significant difference" Derrick Griffith's classmate @ny1 pic.twitter.com/xhu5hhSOBT
— Mahsa Saeidi (@MahsaWho) May 22, 2015
Along with friends and family, many of Griffith's colleagues were there to mourn his passing. One of his fellow professors recounted an act of charity Griffith carried out for a student at the ceremony. From The New York Daily News:
Rudy Crew, president of Medgar Evers College, said Griffith once brought a student in need over for Thanksgiving dinner and asked him to fix her some lasagna.
Federal authorities continue to investigate the cause of the accident that took Griffith's life. For complete coverage of the Amtrak derailment, click here.
