Fourth-year College student Sam Selden passed away Dec. 2 in Charlottesville in the house he shared with his fiancée, fourth-year College student Lindsey Jones.
Selden was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor early in January 2005 after experiencing severe headaches, according to his father, David Selden.
Despite his condition, Sam Selden decided to return to school, his father said.
"It was a little hard for me to allow him to that but that's what he wanted to do with his life and he was there till the end," David Selden added.
Sam Selden served as an honor counsel and was also the chair of the policy-drafting subcommittee of the Sanction Review Committee.
David Selden said his son focused on his psychology and economics majors and on his goal of going to law school.
"He was not one to spend a lot of time kind of just hanging out, he was a hard-working kid," David Selden said.
Jones also said Sam Selden was very focused on his studies.
"He was the epitome of a U.Va. kid," Jones added.
Other friends also said they saw Sam Selden as a serious-minded young man.
Fourth-year College student Kyle Elliot -- who had known Sam Selden since high school -- said, "We'd always have great intellectual discussions ... he was just a great person to sit down and talk to."
A funeral was held Dec. 5 at the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation.
The couple began soliciting donations for Relay for Life after Sam was diagnosed, Jones said. They raised over $25,000.
Jones said during Sam Selden's last semester, she spent nearly all of her time staying with him after he had to withdraw from classes.
"He always had the amazing hope that he was going to beat this." Jones added.
Sam Selden was an only child whose mother passed away during his first year, according to David Selden.
"He was kind of a Jeffersonian person," David Selden said. "He cared deeply about honor, integrity and people being treated well. I think he exemplified the kind of person Jefferson would be proud having at his University."
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