A Medill graduate student who served a combat tour of duty with the U.S. military in Iraq died over winter break, Medill Dean John Lavine announced in an email today.
The cause was suicide. Justin Wallace Owen died Dec. 25. He was 24.
Owen served in Iraq as a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2007 to 2008. A native of Whitefish Bay, Wis., he graduated cum laude from Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication in 2010, according to a death notice published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Medill will establish the Justin Wallace Owen Memorial Fund in his honor, which will offer aid to Medill graduate students, Lavine wrote. You can give to this fund online, specifying Medill and the Justin Wallace Owen Memorial Fund. You may also give by mail, sending funds to Medill at 2020 Ridge Ave, Evanston, IL 60208, making the check out to The Justin Owen Memorial Fund, Northwestern University.