A 23-year-old Lawrence University graduate died while hiking in the Italian Alps earlier in May, the university announced May 26. The university did not release the cause of death.
Alexander Stanger, a Vermont native who graduated from Lawrence in 2025, lived and worked in Hamburg, Germany. They held a double major in film studies and German studies. According to a news release from the university, Stanger’s “intellectual curiosity, artistic vision, and deep empathy touched countless lives on the Lawrence campus and beyond.”
“Alex embodied the very best of Lawrence,” said Alison Guenther-Pal, associate professor of German and Stanger’s academic adviser. “We remember Alex for their limitless kindness, genuine empathy, and the rare openness with which they engaged others. Alex approached life as a process of becoming – of cultivating an authentic self with honesty and courage – and in doing so, was a model for others to do the same.”
According to a news release from the German-American Fulbright Commission, Stanger was also interested in a career in education and, at the time of their death, had worked as an English teaching assistant on a Fulbright fellowship at Gymnasium Eppendorf in Hamburg. They had also done a teaching practicum at Appleton Bilingual School while they were at Lawrence.
Rebecca Loroff is an education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. Contact her at rloroff@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Recent Lawrence graduate dies in Europe, university announces
Reporting by Rebecca Loroff, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
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