Streamwood native falls to his death at Saint Louis University

Hoffman Estates High School graduate Nirmam Vasanwala, 19, of Streamwood died early Thursday morning in a fall from the balcony of his 12th-floor apartment at Saint Louis University.

Vasanwala died at about 3:30 a.m., according to a statement from the university, which is in St. Louis.

A 2008 Hoffman Estates graduate, he was voted mostly likely to succeed, was on the tennis and math teams and was in the National Honor Society, according to the school's yearbook.

He was a sophomore in biology at the university, and friends from Hoffman Estates High School said he had planned to be a doctor. They called Vasanwala positive and brilliant.

"We knew he was going to change the way things were," said Jeff Skalon, a student at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Ill. "He wanted to be a doctor and would have changed the way things were for medicine. He would have been a great doctor."

The death is under investigation by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and university officials, the university's statement said, adding there was no indication of foul play.

The police department issued a short statement:

"The resident assistant (of the campus housing) received a complaint of a disturbance on the floor and located the victim who was determined to be the source of the disturbance. While the resident assistant was in one room, the victim walked to his own room. The resident assistant responded to the victim's room and located the victim's roommate who appeared to have been sleeping, but the victim was not located. A short time later the victim was discovered lying on the ground below his balcony."

Michael Mims, who graduated from Hoffman Estates High School a year before Vasanwala, said everyone who knew Vasanwala respects him.

"He is still a great guy with a great heart," said Mims, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in an e-mail message. "A heart that touched everyone he came in contact with. His passion, motivation, and pursuit to exceed was a great example for others. He was a role model to many."

A university spokesman said there was no knowledge of funeral arrangements.

"Our entire University community mourns the loss of Nirmam, and we extend our deepest sympathies to his family as well as his many friends on the SLU campus," the statement said.