UCLA faculty, staff and students picked up notes and flowers from professor William Klug’s memorial Tuesday, to give to Klug’s wife and their two children.
Assistant Vice Chancellor of Campus Life Mick Deluca, the undergraduate student government External Vice President Rafi Sands and several others volunteered to transfer the memorial’s contents from the Bruin Bear to Klug’s home.
Klug was killed in his office by a former doctoral student on June 1 in a murder-suicide.
His memorial included hundreds of notes and flowers, as well as origami figures and tributes made of pipe cleaners.
“Fly home safe, Professor,” read one prominent note with a drawing of a spaceship, a reference to Klug’s position as a professor of aerospace engineering.
Sands said they are transferring the tributes so they will not be damaged by weather or by students participating in the quarterly Undie Run on Wednesday, during which students run by the Bruin Bear.
He added he thinks Klug’s family will appreciate having the signs and flowers because it shows how many students have come together to support his family, despite not knowing them personally.
“It is a visual sign that … people care about him, and he was a really strong member of our community,” Sands said.
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science also established an online fund to support the engineering professor’s family. The Klug Family Support Fund is available on the website “Giving to UCLA,” and all funds will be given directly to Klug’s family, according to the site.