In Memory of William Lange

Will Lange (1995 - 2016) worked in our lab as a high school student in the summers of 2012 and 2013. In remembering Will, Yunji Wu expressed it so eloquently with this note, “Will was a delight to work with - he had boundless energy and a deep intellect, both of which were immediately obvious. Even though the project we gave him was mainly to leverage his graphic design skills, he was so curious about the science behind it. He would not be underestimated: I clearly remember his exact words telling me in a very adult voice that I "shouldn't shy away from sending him scientific papers on the topic", that he could handle them even as a high school student. His notebook was filled with interesting, beautiful drawings that he had doodled in addition to his lab notes. (I'm sure we still have this notebook in the lab.) He was tasked with making a 2D representation of an anti-HIV antibody with a very complicated 3D structure. This is a structure that is notoriously difficult to visualize, and Will's drawings were incredibly helpful for understanding its internal connectivity. He showed me his progress at every step, incorporated my comments very maturely, and was rightfully very proud of the final product, which was featured in the published manuscript. I wish I had known him better - what a tremendous loss.”

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There are two ways that you can donate to honor Will and keep his memory alive.

1) Will volunteered at the Udayan orphanage near Jaipur, India during the summer of 2013. Jaimala and Hitesh Gupta, the directors of Vatsalya (an NGO that runs the orphanage), set up a scholarship for children at the orphanage in memory of Will. Jaimala wrote this about Will: "I clearly remember him and his enthusiastic, high energy approach. He shared with great sense of pride how his mother taught him to work hard and he asked for tasks that required hard labor. While working here as volunteer, he dug foundation for putting up a long fence around our cattle shed. Extremely courteous and disciplined, William impressed everyone in Udayan with his kindness and ability to work tirelessly for hours together. What I very vividly remember about him is his shining eyes that shone even brighter when he spoke about his mother. He really adored her and his devotion for her could not be missed ever.” If you would like to donate to Udayan in Will’s name, please go to

http://vatsalya.org/udayan/

where you can read about Udayan and Vatsalya) and click on the yellow DONATE NOW button on the right of the screen. This will take you to a page describing how to make donations to Udayan from the US through an organization called NICF. Please specify that your donation is for the William Lange Scholarship fund.


2) In the summer of 2014, Will volunteered to work with abandoned and mistreated monkeys at a sanctuary called Monkeyland, in South Africa.  You can donate to provide support for Monkeyland at this website:

http://www.monkeyland.co.za

or for abandoned chimps in Liberia, including the chimp in this picture who has been named Will in honor of Will Lange, by going to this website: 

https://www.gofundme.com/abandonedchimps.

Will the chimp was reported by Will Lange’s aunt, Karen Lange, to be "acting very independently, near all the other mothers and babies and his foster mother (who lost her baby and carries Will when the group travels) but moving around on his own.” Along with Will’s family, we are comforted to think about Will the chimp being saved through the efforts of people like Will Lange and others.