A five-kilometer run will be held this Saturday in honor of Matt Wanetik, a junior at Syracuse University who died Oct. 3 while studying abroad in Strasbourg, France.

Wanetik, an international relations and political science major, was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and active in University Union Comedy.

As AEPi’s philanthropy chair, Wanetik created the 5K run last year. The proceeds benefited the Lance Armstrong Livestrong Foundation for cancer research.

Wanetik’s fraternity brothers renamed the event in his honor shortly after learning of his death. Proceeds from this year’s run will benefit research on sudden arrhythmia death syndrome, a genetic heart condition that can cause sudden death.

Currently, no official cause of Wanetik’s death has been released, and French police have ruled out foul play, said Kevin Morrow, SU spokesman.

The event at Walnut Park will feature a barbecue, a raffle and live music from Parker’s Dope Vision, a band formed by a member of AEPi. The male and female winners of the run will each receive a Jet Blue flight voucher.

“It’s important that the philanthropy continues to honor (Wanetik), because it’s something that was really important to him and something he had passion for,” said Alex Pomerantz, AEPi’s philanthropy chair and organizer of the event. “It’s nice it’s named after him now and that it can continue in his memory.”

Wanetik’s funeral was held Sunday in Philadelphia at his childhood synagogue. Approximately 50 AEPi brothers and other SU students attended the service. Speakers at the funeral included Wanetik’s uncle, his freshman-year roommate and Brad Orban, president of AEPi.

There is no set date for an official campus memorial. The national chapter of AEPi has created a scholarship in memory of Wanetik, and the SU Study Abroad office is accepting donations in his name.

Registration forms for the run will be available in the Schine Student Center, and interested runners can get more information on the Facebook event page created by Pomerantz.

“I’m excited to see a good crowd out there in honor of Matt,” Pomerantz said. ‘This is the kind of stuff he was passionate about.”

 

Published on October 12, 2008 at 12:00 pm