He was a third-year biotechnology student who developed apps in his spare time and planned to attend medical school after his undergraduate degree. His friends and housemates describe a person who would stop at nothing to help someone in need.

Last week, Amir Moradi, ArtSci ’21, was killed when Ukraine International Flight PS752 crashed outside of Tehran minutes after taking off.

Moradi spent the winter break with his family in Iran, planning his return to Kingston for Jan. 9. Like 176 other passengers on the flight, Moradi’s death was a sudden tragedy felt by the Queen’s community.

“He was always very genuine and would go out of his way to make sure everyone felt appreciated,” Mohammad Mohammad, (Kin ’21), a friend of Moradi’s said in an interview. “He would just always check up on everyone.”

Mohammad said Moradi, who specialized in biotechnology, had a passion for developing apps and had ambitions that included attending medical school. Moradi first moved to Canada with his family in high school with the goal of making his parents proud.

Ron Vankin, one of Moradi’s housemates, told The Journal that, “at the end of the day, what ended up happening was, he went from being this nice kid to doing whatever he could for his friends.”

According to Vankin, there was no middle ground when it came to Moradi—people were either an acquaintance or family. He recalled a time his housemates all laid together in Moradi’s room and went around the circle saying one nice thing about each other.

“[Amir] was in tears because he was so happy that he found us [at Queen’s],” Vankin said. “When you go somewhere brand new, with a language barrier, that experience gets a little bit rougher.”

“He was someone who [was] all about doing stuff with the boys. I think it was with the boys no matter what, it didn’t even need to be a Saturday,” Vankin added.

On Jan. 10, a vigil was held to pay tribute to the lives lost from the crash at the JDUC. On Thursday, Jan. 16, the Iranian Student Association is hosting a protest to stand in solidarity with the Iranian protesters who are demonstrating in response to the plane crash flight PS752 and the need for accountability in honour of the victims.

Kira Petriello, (Comm ’21), another one of Moradi’s friends, said something that always stood out to her about him was how he never expected people to pay him back for favors.

“Amir was always super kind and generous when I knew him,” she wrote to The Journal.