Following the death of Professor Raja Fayad, the Arnold School of Public Health has created the Raja Fayad Memorial Fund which will be used to “continue his positive influence on students and faculty.”
Fayad was the victim of the murder-suicide that occurred on USC’s campus Feb. 5. His ex-wife, Sunghee Kwon shot the professor in an office before turning the gun on herself. This was not the first time Kwon had visited Fayad at USC.
Before his death, Fayad was working at the Center of Colon Cancer Research where his primary focus was on colorectal cancer. He began collaborating with the researchers at the center when he first came to USC in 2008.
His research “held great promise in helping to prevent and treat disease,” according to the center’s official statement.
Director of the Center for Colon Cancer Research, Frank Berger feels that he will be sorely missed.
“Were he able to continue with his work with colon cancer research,” Berger said in a USC interview, “he would have saved lives and made other lives better. He was an important person for the research he did, but he was also important because he was a great collaborator and had an upbeat personality.”
According to the fund’s website, “family, colleagues and students will determine the exact use of the money, which will be used to enhance his life’s work of teaching and cancer research.”
The fund accepts donations via their website, which can be found on the Arnold School of Public Health’s main page, as well as checks made payable to University Foundations.