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A 21-year-old MIT student was found dead on a Union Square building rooftop on Sunday night. Police believe that James Albrecht fell from the 243 East 14th Street onto the roof of a neighboring building, but it's unclear whether Albrecht fell or was pushed.
Friends tell the Sun that Albrecht was at a Murray Hill restaurant for a party Saturday night, and then left around 2AM. According to the Post, a witness saw Albrecht on the roof of the 14th Street building he probably fell from around 3AM Sunday morning and that he seemed intoxicated. The ME's office was expected to release autopsy results yesterday, but the Sun says "the office did not return several follow-up phone calls."
Albrecht was in NYC for a summer internship at D.E. Shaw and had been living on St. Mark's Place. His summer roommate and classmate Albert Ni said, "He was one of the smartest kids at MIT. Even though he was smart, he was kind and approachable and friendly."
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Not smart enough to know that drinking to get blindly drunk is a bad idea...
I knew him when he was younger, and he was a really nice guy. What a terrible tragedy, and shame on the first commenter! Hopefully nobody will be mocking your loved ones when they pass away!
As soon as I read this story, I knew there would be some jerk who would make the very predictable (and unfunny) comment. Sometimes I think that Gothamist should just give a miss to stories like this.
This is obviously a Jen Chung story: ...a witness saw Albrecht on the roof of the 14th building he probably fell from...
So, he probably fell from fourteen buildings?! Puh-leez edit before posting!
i grew up with james in naperville, i lived 2 blocks away from him, this short piece on what happened does not tell what really occurrred. he never drank to get drunk, to assume he was some cray alcoholic could not be farther from the truth.
Is there anyone who really thinks he was pushed? Were there people around? And sad as it is.. accidents happen.
too bad he didn't land on his hairdo.
Maybe his hair caused him to lose his balance.
Don't mean to offend anyone, but intelligent people don't drink themselves into a stupor and fall off buildings...
I have to agree. If he got into DE Shaw, I don't think he could have had a substance abuse 'problem'.
Maybe he was 'experimenting' and misjudged something. It happens all the time.
An autopsy should answer everything, probably.
#7 and #8 - looks like immature pre-teens--or just ignorant. Stupid attempt at humor. Grow up!
I am a close friend of James' and in his class at MIT. All of you who make fun of such a tragedy should be ashamed. None of you knew him and have no right to defame such an honest and caring person's memory. Think before you disgustingly cause people more pain.
I knew James from junior high and high school. We worked together in Math Team for 4 years and I have had the fortune and honor to spend 7 wonderful years with a person who used his humor, wit, humility, and compassion to charm his peers more than he used his brilliant academic prowess. Having graduated in the top 10 along with him from Naperville North Class of 2004, I knew he was destined for bigger things to come and it greatly saddens me that the world has suffered such a tragic loss.
I urge readers to refrain from posting offensive comments about James and this tragedy. Such words do not do justice to such a promising individual and to his family and friends who truly know him behind his "hairdo" and his brilliant mind.
First of all, it's Albert Ni, not Arthur. He has lived down the hall from me for the past two years I've been at MIT, along with James.
People like you who make fun of things like this obviously haven't suffered a loss of any sort of magnitude. James was a kind, decent, and brilliant human being. I would not hesitate to call him a genius, nor would I hesitate to call him one of the most caring, friendly people I have ever met. James was at the top of the top at MIT, but at the same time had the ability to make us all laugh or brighten our day. And while this all sounds trite and cliche, it was genuinely true for James. I cannot think of adequate words to describe what an amazing person he was.
To the people who decided to make (what you think are clever) comments on the situation: Imagine a close friend of yours dead. And then imagine people who didn't even know that person making fun of the situation. Anyone who feels they have the right to mock something like this can only dream about possessing any of the qualities that James showed every day.
Here's another poorly written sentence: Police believe that James Albrecht fell from the 243 East 14th Street onto the roof of a neighboring building, but it's unclear whether Albrecht fell or was pushed.
Fell from the 243 East 14th Street? So bad, it's funny! Har-har-har!