About Orion

In October 2003, Orion was diagnosed with an aggressive and inoperable brain tumor. At the time he was a junior at the University of California, San Diego, contemplating life as an upper division student in physics, living in an apartment with his friends, boogie boarding down at the beach, and inseparable from his girlfriend of the past year and a half .

Orion returned to his home in Bay Area to undergo treatment and be with his family. His bravery and perserverance through diagnosis and chemotherapy were truly remarkable. He enrolled at UC Berkeley for the spring semester of 2004, initially in a quantum mechanics course, but he soon became involved in a short fiction writing project with the English department. Orion had been writing as long as we all can remember – initially creating and then writing adventures for the Land of OT, a role-play game engaging his friends every Saturday into the wee hours of the night throughout high school. He also started poetry clubs at Piedmont High School and at UC San Diego.

Orion finished his story in April and died soon afterwards. We remain here to honor him – his younger brothers, his girlfriend, his close friends from college and high school and his family. Those who know and love him are forever inspired by his passion for life, his creativity and above all, his compassion and caring for others. Through The Orion Fund, his life will touch and encourage those he will not have a chance to meet, to follow their own voyages of discovery.