Iowa State student remembered as a ‘gentle giant’ and positive uplifter

With a big construct and outlined muscle groups from head-to-toe, Jeremy Onyango would typically intimidate individuals who noticed him for the primary time. However anybody who spoke to him would at all times instantly understand his welcoming nature and uplifting perspective.

Jacob DeVito, a senior learning actuarial science and president of the ISU weightlifting membership, characterised him as a “light large.”

Jeremy Onyango was a senior learning physics from Evergreen, Illinois. He handed away unexpectedly Oct. 25.

Onyango was a member of Triangle fraternity and the weightlifting membership. He additionally labored at Cy’s Roost.

“At first, [Onyango] was very scary as a result of he was a really muscular man with a durag,” stated Piotr Starzec, a sophomore learning civil engineering and Onyango’s co-worker. “However then the extra I talked to him he was very simple to speak to, very good.”

When DeVito met Onyango by way of the weightlifting membership, the very first thing he seen was Onyango’s constructive perspective.

“He had a approach of lighting up a room when he walked into it and uplifting different folks,” DeVito stated. “He had that constructive, contagious perspective that simply sort of modified the environment.”

Onyango always had a smile on his face and had amusing that might be heard throughout the room.

“He wasn’t very shy together with his chuckle,” DeVito stated. “He was very loud and proud with it, and it was simply a type of contagious laughs the place you heard him chuckle and also you needed to begin laughing too.”

Onyango spent a lot of his time within the health club. In 2020, in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, DeVito noticed Onyango within the health club each day, and they’d smile at one another by way of their masks.

“It was very evident [weightlifting] was sort of one thing he simply had a ardour for,” DeVito stated. “He had a physique that, to begin with, didn’t come in a single day, and, second of all, didn’t come simply. It was very evident that he was extraordinarily devoted to what he was doing.”

Onyango loved sharing his love for weightlifting with others. He mentioned lifting methods together with his co-workers at Cy’s Roost and took teams of his Triangle brothers to the health club and taught them the way to raise.

The dedication Onyango confirmed within the health club additionally utilized to different areas of his life. Starzec recollects that Onyango at all times deliberate every little thing forward of time and located a approach for his plans to return collectively.

“He would set a aim, and he would do regardless of the hell he needed to do to get there,” DeVito stated. “I’ve nearly by no means seen him complain about something. He’d present up and get it achieved.”

Regardless of Onyango’s ongoing successes with weightlifting, he was frequently humble and susceptible with these round him. He by no means shied away from asking others for recommendation with a squat even when they have been much less skilled.

“Regardless that he had this huge body on him and a lot to indicate for the work he put in, he by no means demonstrated that he thought he was higher than anyone else,” DeVito stated.

In his free time, Onyango loved watching anime and enjoying board video games. He and different members of Triangle continuously performed Dungeons & Dragons collectively.

“The sort of stuff he was into simply utterly blows you out of the water if you discover out,” DeVito stated. “Most large, muscled up guys aren’t enjoying Dungeons & Dragons with their associates after the health club.”

Onyango additionally cherished to satisfy new folks and construct his private relationships. He loved social environments and needed to be everybody’s good friend.

“Even when he didn’t know you, he’d greet you as if he did with that large smile,” DeVito stated. “He was at all times type to you and would speak to you such as you have been a human being.”

Onyango at all times requested DeVito about his private life and would genuinely hearken to the conversations they shared. If DeVito talked about one thing in a earlier dialog, Onyango would ask about it the subsequent time they crossed paths.

Onyango would additionally ask Starzec how he was doing at work and would supply to assist him together with his classwork.

“He had the identical affect on everyone he met of simply being a job mannequin for the way we must always act in the direction of one another and the sort of perspective that we must always have,” DeVito stated.

ISU’s Triangle chapter held a memorial service for Onyango of their residence Oct. 29. The road to signal the visitor guide went out the again door, and there weren’t sufficient seats for everybody in attendance, in accordance with their Instagram.

“Jeremy was a real good friend to each member of Triangle, whether or not you knew him for years or met him for just a few minutes,” ISU Triangle wrote in an electronic mail. “Whereas we mourn his loss, we’re dedicated to honoring his reminiscence as a chapter by exuding the kindness he shared every day.”

A number of folks have left recollections and pictures on Onyango’s on-line obituary and greater than 70 folks have electronically lit a candle in his reminiscence.

Donations to help the Onyango household could be made on the Triangle fraternity web site.