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On a brisk morning nearly one year ago, grim-faced firefighters emerged from the smoldering remains of an Oakland warehouse called the Ghost Ship. In the days that followed, they would recover the remains of 36 men and women, most of whom had been attending a party.

The Dec. 2 blaze was America’s worst structural fire in more than a decade and was shocking for many reasons, not least the distressing realization that most of the victims were young and full of plans for the future.

Among the dead was Griffin Madden, 23, a Berkeley graduate who specialized in Slavic languages. He was also a music lover and a part-time DJ.

In the year since the fire, Griffin Madden’s father, Mike, has sought ways to preserve his son’s memory. He helped launch a scholarship at Middlebury College, where his son studied Russian.