The Advocate
This story originally appeared on Them . Murry Foust, a 22-year-old transgender student at Northern Kentucky University who was found dead in late May after a near-monthlong search, was awarded a posthumous bachelor’s degree at a June 3 memorial ceremony, according to a report in the school’s student newspaper. “I really thank you from a very deep place in my heart, bringing genuine friends to worry for, loving our family through the hardest days, and to NKU for making the space for all of us to celebrate the life of a very beautiful soul,” Murry’s sister Lindsey told a standing-room-only crowd, per The Northerner . In attendance were multiple professors, all of whom praised Foust’s creativity, and the school’s president, Cady Short-Thompson, who said she was “deeply honored” to be present. “We are all heartbroken, crestfallen at this tragic loss of one of our precious students, and I know so many in this room are grieving this evening,” Short-Thompson said in remarks reported by the newspaper. Foust’s BFA Integrative Media and Spatial Arts degree, which came with a focus in both painting and spatial arts, was presented to his parents. A photo of that powerful moment was captured by WKRC . View this post on Instagram A post shared by Local 12 WKRC-TV (@local12wkrc) Some of Foust’s artwork was displayed at the June 3 memorial. His work was also shown following the discovery of his body at the Cincinnati Art Museum’s “Art After Dark” program in late May, with proceeds going toward a scholarship fund established in his honor, as WXIX reported. Foust was also memorialized at an event held by Cincinatti-based nonprofit Transform Cincy in May, shortly after his body was found. That event, captured by WCPO , featured live music, art, and spoken remembrances with an estimated 150 people gathering on the lawn of the Transform Cincy headquarters. “I’m just going to miss his energy. He really just brightened up the room every time he came around, so it’ll be a long adjustment period,” Foust’s friend Taylor Selman told the local ABC affiliate. Foust was first reported missing after last being seen alive on April 27 walking in the Latonia neighborhood of Covington, Kentucky wearing a yellow backpack. The student’s phone had been left at home. Foust’s friends posted that he was a transgender man early in his transition, who used he/they pronouns. Their body was found nearly a month later, on May 24, by an independent search party in an industrial area of Wilder, Kentucky across the Licking River from Latonia. Police said there were no indications of foul play. According to The Northerner , Foust had a favorite quote from legendary music producer Rick Rubin, written in his 2023 memoir The Creative Act : “The reason we’re alive is to express ourselves in the world.” With one Meal Train fundraiser for the soon-to-be-formalized scholarship fund already reaching nearly $30,000 , it is clear that Foust’s memory will continue to facilitate artistic expression for years to come.
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