A second Penn State student, 20-year-old Norristown native Neil Patel, has died from complications of COVID-19. His family remembered him in a memorial service on Friday.
Patel was a 6th semester undergraduate student in the Smeal College of Business and a Schreyer Honors Scholar.
His family announced his death on August 1 on a GoFundMe page, where they had been sharing updates of Patel’s long battle against the illness at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia.
"Our son and my dear boy has moved on to his next journey," Patel's father, Chet, wrote. "Neil fought his illness like a brave knight... just as I had raised him to be. The brightest light in our life has moved on from my and Hema's life and I don't know how we will fill the emptiness."
Chet Patel wrote about the damage to his son’s heart and lungs due to COVID-19 and said he developed symptoms in early April, one day before his vaccination appointment.
Patel had stayed home over the past year and attended Penn State remotely. The university said it’s in touch with his family to offer support. Counselling is available for those impacted.
