Mississauga student Ishan Srinivasan died as he lived, expressing concern for a friend.

Srinivasan, a 21-year-old University of Waterloo student, drowned Sunday when the canoe he was in capsized, plunging him and two friends into the frigid waters of Pickerel Lake, about 50 kilometres north of Huntsville.

“We were all struggling. The water was freezing. The canoe tipped over and I knew if we didn’t call someone it would have been over for all of us,” said Srinivasan’s friend, who asked not to be named.

Srinivasan used his last breaths to express concern for the third canoeist, who could not swim and was taking in large gasps of water despite being the only one wearing a life jacket, the friend said.

Between shouts for help, Srinivasan and the friend took turns trying to prop up the floundering man, but the icy water was paralyzing.

By the time neighbouring cottagers arrived in a motorboat, Srinivasan had disappeared underwater. It was around 6:30 p.m. and still light out but 20 minutes circling around yielded nothing.

The two men were taken to hospital with hypothermia and have since recovered. Other boaters continued the search until darkness fell.

Srinivasan’s body was pulled from Pickerel Lake on Monday.

His funeral was held in Mississauga Thursday. Friends and family gathered to remember the 6-foot-5 basketball-loving “gentle giant,” as friend Zain Amer called him.

Gunjan Gite, Srinivasan’s girlfriend of four years, said he was “completely selfless.”

“His personality just shines out,” said Gite. “You meet him once and you feel like you can open up to him. . . . He cares so much for everyone around him.”

Gite and the “handsome, always smiling” Srinivasan met at a mutual friend’s birthday party. The music was loud and they misheard their names. Inquiring about each other afterward, he asked about “Runjan” and she about “Zishan”.

Several weeks later, they began dating despite several obstacles in their way. Srinivasan had no phone and lived in Mississauga while Gite lived in Brampton. Srinivasan would bus several hours each way to see Gite, sometimes for as little as 45 minutes.

His caring nature was especially evident when it came to his family. About two weeks ago, after paying off tuition with money from his engineering co-op job and previous work as a bank teller, Srinivasan transferred what money he had left to his mother’s account, said friend and classmate Karmanya Ratra, estimating the amount at several thousand dollars.

Gite also revealed that Srinivasan had secretly been putting aside money from each paycheque for his younger sister’s post-secondary education. She will start university in the fall.

“I don’t know any guy around me who does that,” said Gite.