UC Berkeley in mourning
Hundreds gather to honor students, alums who died in the Ghost Ship blaze
BERKELEY — Victims of Oakland’s devastating warehouse fire with ties to UC Berkeley were remembered by family, friends and co-workers Thursday afternoon in a poignant gathering at Zellerbach Hall.
Two students, two recent graduates and others connected to Cal perished in the Friday night inferno at an East Oakland art collective. They were among 36 people who died — many in their 20s and 30s.
About 200 gathered for a noon vigil at Zellerbach, ordinarily a performance space, to grieve David Cline, 24; Griffin Madden, 23; Jenny Morris, 21; and Vanessa Plotkin, 21. The vigil is also honoring the life of Chelsea Dolan, 33, a DJ and music producer who also went by the name Cherushii and volunteered at the campus radio station KALX.
Morris and Plotkin were undergraduates and roommates who attended the underground electronic music and art party together on Friday. Madden and Cline graduated from UC Berkeley in 2015.
Dolan’s music played as people trickled into the auditorium.
“She was lovely to be around, exceptionally warm and generous with her musical knowledge,” said Jenn Stringer, speaking on behalf of KALX about Dolan. “We will feel the loss of her unselfish heart and amazing contributions to the station.”
Lost in much of the conversation and coverage about the tragedy, said UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, is that “the crowd was made up of very diverse and very different individuals but they were all drawn there by the ... power of community, by the pull of music and art, by the shared joy of collective experimentation.”
The victims, he said, embodied those values.
The 6-foot-3 Cline, with his “bushy head of hair,” came to work at International House as a freshman in 2011, recalled Tim Lynch, the house’s events manager. Cline left his job in his senior year to focus on his academics, earning degrees in both cognitive science and computer science.
“David was exceptionally bright, even by Berkeley standards,” Lynch said. “If anyone had a bright future ahead of them, it was David Cline.”
Madden’s father, Mike, recalled long conversations with his son — who graduated with degrees in philosophy and Slavic language — about such topics as the meaning of time and whether it exists.
“I lost track of time during those conversations,” he joked, a rare moment of levity in a heartbreaking event.
Jenny Morris’ father, Michael Morris, told the gathering that he felt blessed to “have Jenny for 21 years.”
“She was so precious to us, and loved music and art, very talented,” he said. “She did so much to reach out to others.”
Her big brother, Chris Morris, said the truth was still sinking in. “Even though I’ve accepted it, it really doesn’t seem real to me,” he said. “We just saw her at Thanksgiving.”
Vanessa Plotkin’s father, Gary Plotkin, thanked those who had reached out to support family members through the devastating news and aftermath. “This is not kind of VIP treatment we would have ever wanted. People have been wonderful,” he said.
Victoria Plotkin, Vanessa’s twin, said Vanessa would always be her twin sister. “She is my best friend,” she said. “She is my light. She is my sun. Vanessa is still here. I can feel her everywhere.”
It has been a tragic year for the campus. Over the summer, two students — Nick Leslie, 20, and Tarishi Jain, 18 — died in separate terror attacks while abroad.
Griffin Madden hated cliches, his father said, and perhaps none annoyed him more than YOLO — You Only Live Once.
So he came up with his own twist, Mike Madden said, “which is striking at this moment” — You Only Live Forever.