A University student died Friday after a fatal car accident in New Orleans.
Ryan Russell Gibbs, a 31-year-old English graduate student, was a Texas native with a passion for music. He played drums and percussion in his high school band before spending a summer with the Blue Knights Drum Corp of Denver.
“The LSU family was saddened to hear about the passing of Ryan Gibbs,” said LSU Chancellor Michael Martin in a news release. “This is a great loss to the LSU community, and our hearts go out to his family, friends and everyone he touched in the English Department.”
After graduating in 2000 from Plainview High School in Plainview, Texas, Gibbs originally planned to major in percussion performance, but he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baylor University in 2004.
He further showcased his academic prowess after graduating summa cum laude with a perfect GPA and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas Tech University in 2009.
Gibbs was working on his master’s thesis in his final semester of study at LSU as he pursued a Master of Fine Arts.
Aside from devoting himself to his academic endeavors, Gibbs also enjoyed nature. He went skydiving over the Alps in Switzerland and snorkeled coral reefs in Jamaica, and he was also a photographer.
He is survived by his parents Russ and Vicki Gibbs of Bryan/College Station, Texas, among others.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Boxwell Brother Funeral Directors in Amarillo, Texas. Memorials may be sent to the creative writing graduate program at LSU.
 
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Contact Joshua Bergeron at [email protected]