Student passes away from cancer over spring break
Felipe Benitez of the Psi Sigma Phi multicultural fraternity passed away Monday, March 10. The 19-year-old freshman was fighting lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, since the diagnosis in February 2013.
Services for Benitez were held the weekend at the end of spring break. A friend and fellow student, Alice Acosta, said Benitez requested his funeral to be a celebration of his life rather than a time of mourning; family and friends wore white in his honor.
“He was always happy and was always flirting with girls,” said Cristofer Farfan, a member of Psi Sigma Phi and a close friend of Benitez. “He always had a positive attitude.”
Members of the fraternity nationwide initiated an online fundraiser via gofundme.com to help the family cover funeral costs. Sixty-seven people have donated thus far at a total of $3,695 after the website’s cut.
“He was a young man that left you speechless when you felt his energy and witnessed his positive attitude,” wrote Leandro Rodriguez, a member of the fraternity in New Jersey, on the GoFundMe site. “You never heard him complain. He fought long and hard.”
All proceeds from this year’s Step Show, hosted by the fraternity and Theta Nu Xi multicultural sorority on Friday, April 11, will also benefit Benitez’s family.
Benitez was the only boy of five siblings. He graduated from Cottonwood High School, where he was a lineman on the football team.
Franciso Queto, who joined the fraternity with Benitez, said he always wore a smile and had an even bigger heart. He loved USU and his fellow “Phiman.”
– manda.perkins@hotmail.com