One of the victims of the deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia, Derrick Griffith, was a beloved educator in New York. NY1's Rocco Vertuccio filed the following report.
Students at Medgar Evers College can't imagine the school without one of their favorite advisors.
"We're going to have a hole over campus for a very long time," said student Jillian Gbidi.
Dr. Derrick Griffith was the man willing to help any student at any time with anything. He encouraged Gbidi to run for student government two years ago.
"He always pushed us to be in leadership roles and always go after what we wanted,” she said.
Students say Griffith encouraged all of them. And he cared about their success. As a dean of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management he helped them with financial aid and pushed them to graduate on time.
"It's weird right now, it’s odd knowing he's not here I keep expecting to see him around say, ‘Hey Griffith,’” said student Hasani Douglas.
Griffith, 42, was on the ill-fated Amtrak train returning home from taking care of a family matter when it derailed. His colleagues are struggling with the loss.
"He was someone you could have gone to at a moment's notice and he would have stopped what he was doing and be there for his students. He loved his students,” said Dereck Skeate, a professor at Medgar Evers.
Griffith devoted his life to education as a way to help others less fortunate. He was once a teacher and a principal, and in 2003, he founded the CUNY Preparatory Transitional High School in the Bronx, which offered a pathway to college for those who had left school.
The president of Medgar Evers says Griffith had education in his soul.
"He believed that he could in fact singularly be a change agent in someone's life and so he carried himself that way,” said Dr. Rudolph Crew.
Just a month ago Griffith improved his own education by receiving a PHD in urban education. The college plans to honor him at commencement next month. He is survived by his mother and a son.