Friends, family and students of the late communication studies professor Nick Trujillo celebrated his life during his memorial at the Alumni Center Tuesday night.

Journalism and communication studies professor Timi Poeppelman, who organized the memorial for Trujillo, said he was her thesis adviser when she was in graduate school and she had three classes with him.

“I think it’s important to honor him both as a scholar and as someone who contributed to the department and different peoples’ lives,” Poeppelman said.

Poeppelman said she adopted some of Trujillo’s ways of teaching, such as not taking roll and giving ten assignments a semester that students would not expect so they don’t miss class.

There were many tributes to Trujillo’s life at the memorial that showed all the things he enjoyed in his life.

Trujillo’s music was played along as well as a photo slide show that captured Trujillo enjoying the outdoors, singing, and photos accompanied by his family and dogs. There was also a poster board filled with photos spanning from Trujillo’s life at the service along.

A Photoshopped image of the Jimi Hendrix Experience album with Trujillo standing beside Hendrix and wearing an afro, captured Trujillo’s humorous side. Trujillo’s college diplomas, books, articles and his Dodgers’ memorabilia were also displayed for attendees to see.

Organizational communication studies junior Aryana Gooley said not only was Trujillo her professor, but she saw him as a mentor as well.

“He was my first communications professor that I met and after being in a class with him I felt very comfortable,” Gooley said.

Gooley said Trujillo had a warm persona because he was always there to help his students in anything they were doing and his laid-back demeanor made him have a personal connection with them.

“By not having students call him Dr. Trujillo or professor Trujillo allowed us to connect with him at a different level,” Gooley said. “He had Dodgers memorabilia on the walls and being from the Los Angeles area, it was something that made (me have) another connection with him.”

Gooley said Trujillo inspired her to be passionate about everything because he was passionate about what he did.

Attendees had the opportunity to speak about Trujillo including the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters Kimo Ah Yun who said he knew Trujillo for more than ten years.

Ah Yun said the greatest memory was when Trujillo’s wife died and Ah Yun was there to cheer him up.

“One night we stayed up; he liked music and what he wanted to do was (for us) to pick an album and play a song. We were up to six in the morning and I wanted to be supportive,” Ah Yun said. “I remember picking long songs, because I could sleep for five minutes and wake up.”

Ah Yun said he admired Trujillo’s attitude toward life and his joy of teaching.

“He turned his paperwork in to retire and a week later he came back (saying) I can’t do it, I love teaching too much,” Ah Yun said.

Ah Yun said Trujillo inspired Ah Yun to care more about the students and make a difference in their lives.

Poeppelman said Trujillo was an individual who was not afraid to be himself and he would support anyone on anything.

“If you were willing to do something out of the ordinary he was willing to back you up on it,” Poeppelman said. “What I liked a lot about him was (when he said to) never give up, never say die. He was always himself, always positive.”

Leticia Lopez can be reached at [email protected]