DAN ZOLOTOROFE, 1991-2011

From the loners in his high school cafeteria to his brothers in the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Dan Zolotorofe was always making friends and making sure everyone around him felt included.

"He was clever, witty, very, very funny and always smiling," said David Zolotorofe, Dan's father. "He never lost a friend. He didn't care about social status or what a kid looked like or what they did. He was friendly to everyone."

Zolotorofe, 20, of Mahwah, N.J., died Nov. 3 from complications to diabetes. The junior criminology and criminal justice major was born March 21, 1991. He attended elementary, middle and high school in his hometown, and family members said Zolotorofe was always active — he played varsity tennis and baseball, served as his high school's student council president and participated in multiple school clubs.

David Zolotorofe said even during his son's elementary school years, Dan showed an uncanny ability to draw everyone — from the "sports people" on the team to the "nerds" in his class — into his group of friends and make them feel welcome.

"It was really important to him to look out for kids who weren't in the cool crowd or the cliques. He always made it a point to find those kids sitting alone at lunch and bringing them into his circle," David Zolotorofe said. "We've gotten so many messages from people who I don't even know the names of thanking us because Dan made them feel special in high school."

And when Zolotorofe came to this university, his circle of friends only expanded with every place he went.

"He would walk down the hallway of any building and he would stop to talk to four people," said junior kinesiology major Tommy Pagano, one of Zolotorofe's roommates. "I'd just be like, ‘How the hell do you know these people, Dan?'"

And several of Zolotorofe's friends said they would always remember his selflessness and fun-loving spirit.

"Every time he'd come home, no matter what time it was, he was always up and wanted to hang out into the wee hours of the morning," Pagano said. "We talked about everything."

"If you were his friend, you were always going to be his friend," junior letters and sciences major Derek Morrison said.

Zolotorofe was also known for his passion for all things sports-related, from keeping ESPN on the television 24 hours a day to firing off sports trivia to his friends and keeping a massive collection of Air Jordans in his closet. He was heavily involved in TKE and was hoping to run for the fraternity's president next year.

While Zolotorofe's group of friends was always growing, his family was a constant presence in his life. He had an "inseparable bond" with his two older sisters, but Zolotorofe was incredibly close with his father, as well. The pair took several trips to the beach in Florida and watched many Mets and Jets games.

"He told me recently, he said, ‘All my friends are like my brothers, but Dad, you really are my best friend.' I didn't even know until now how much that would mean to me," his father said.

And David Zolotorofe said the 750 people who attended his son's funeral over the weekend — which included everyone from second grade classmates to friends at the university — only served as a testament to the many different people his son had touched in the twenty years of his life.

"I have never met an individual who put others before himself on so many different occasions," junior criminal justice and criminology major Greg Palazzo wrote in an email. "We lost a brother, a friend, and a good man way too early in life."

Dan Zolotorofe is survived by his parents, David and Jill Zolotorofe, and sisters Jessica and Allison.

villanueva@umdbk.com