By Kiara Catanzaro
News Editor
The St. Bonaventure community mourns the loss of Brian Moretti, assistant sports information director, who passed away last Wednesday.
Moretti, 26, died of apparent cardiac arrest while in Richmond, Va. for the women’s Atlantic 10 basketball tournament.
Steve Mest, associate athletics director, said he will remember Moretti’s work ethic and professionalism.
“What I remembered about Brian from the beginning was his intensity,” Mest said. “He was very driven, focused and professional, which made a good impression on me from the get-go. I could tell he wanted to be in this business.”
Mest said although Moretti didn’t necessarily have all the skills he was looking for as an assistant sports information director, his personality set him apart from the competition.
“He didn’t have direct media relations experience, but he had experience in marketing and corporate sales, which are different facets of athletic administration information from what we were looking for when hiring,” Mest said. “But his interview is what wowed us the most because of his personality.”
Ryan McDonough, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major, said although Moretti only worked on campus for six months, he formed great relationships with students who worked for him. McDonough worked with Moretti as an intern in the sports information office.
“One thing I liked about him is he brought a sense of personality to the office,” McDonough said. “Last year, I would go into the office, do my work and leave, but this year was different working with Brian. He made everyone in the office feel like they were one of his close friends. I formed a great relationship with him while he worked here on campus.”
McDonough said most of his impressions of Moretti were drawn from working alongside him at women’s basketball games.
“I was assigned to work with Brian for women’s basketball, and I worked the games with Brian as his right-hand man doing home-game recaps,” McDonough said. “It was a pleasure to work with him because he had a genuine and welcoming personality.”
McDonough said he would work over breaks to help Brian out when he couldn’t attend games because he enjoyed working for him.
“There were some games over break, and I would watch the games from home and send him information for the recaps just because I wanted to help him out,” McDonough said.
McDonough reminisced about how well Moretti treated him while he worked for him in the sports information office, especially during the Nicholson game.
“I came to work the Nicholson game with Brian and stayed an extra day over break,” McDonough said. “They were handing out Nicholson T-shirts and I was worried I wasn’t going to get one since I was working the game. Brian saved a T-shirt for me and said, ‘Don’t worry, I got your T-shirt for you.’ That was just the type of person he was. He was always looking for me and the other people he worked with.”
Jessica Stender, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major, who also interned with Moretti in the sports information office, said Moretti always made work enjoyable.
“He was an incredible person to work with because he brought a lot of energy to the office,” Stender said. “He was focused on his job, but he always made sure that we (interns) would have fun in the office while we worked.”
Although Moretti only began working in August, he quickly became a part of the athletics community, according to Mest.
“Brian assimilated quickly in the athletics department. He was only here for six months, but it felt like he was here for six years,” Mest said. “He was so easy to get to know as a person because of his distinct personality. He was friendly and outgoing with everyone in the department.”
catanzka12@bonaventure.edu
