Chris Higgins, A Student Whose 'Generosity Was Legendary,' Dies at 23

To some, Christopher Higgins (COL '09) was “the mayor,” a man who connected with just about everyone and who could captivate any audience. To others, he was the funniest guy in the room, someone with a sharp wit and an unending repertoire of practical jokes. And to all who knew him, he was generous, warm-hearted and loyal.

Higgins died suddenly at age 23 on Saturday, May 24, at Georgetown University Hospital. He was laid to rest in George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, N.J., following a service at St. Gabriel the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on May 28, which was celebrated by former Georgetown president Fr. Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J. Well over 1,000 people attended the wake and funeral, friends said.

Family members and friends said Chris suffered from aortic stenosis, a heart condition which obstructs the flow of blood through the aortic valve, but had not recently shown any signs of illness.

“He was not sick — he was healthy and happy,” said Erin Davies (COL ’99), Chris’s older sister. “We are still coming to terms with the reality that faces us.”

Rick Calle (COL ’08), who met Chris in their freshman year of high school at Bergen Catholic and called himself Chris’s best friend, was similarly shocked.

“It was sudden and unexpected,” he said.

Higgins, followed four years as the co-captain of Bergen Catholic’s football team, where he was named to New Jersey’s all-Catholic roster, with a position as linebacker on the Georgetown football team from 2004-2006. A broken arm in 2006, however, ended his pigskin career.

In addition to football, the Ho Ho Kus, N.J. native was passionate about music. An avid guitar player, he had also shown an interest in pursuing a career in the music business. One friend, Matt Shotwell said that he, his younger brother, Mike (COL ’08), and Chris enjoyed rap music and freestyling with each other. Chris attended the Scratch DJ Academy in New York last year to polish his skills and prepare for a possible career in the industry.

This summer, Higgins had planned to pursue a finance internship, following a stint at an investment bank, Jefferies, last summer.

Chris hailed from a true Georgetown family. His father, James F. Higgins, graduated from Georgetown in 1970 and sits on the university’s board of directors. He was part of the two-man search committee that brought John Thompson III to Georgetown in 2004. And, of course, Davies attended Georgetown as well. Chris, originally a member of the class of 2008, had just taken off the spring semester and was slated for one more year on the Hilltop to complete his degree in government. He planned to graduate with his cousin, Aly Carluccio (COL ’09), next spring.

‘He did it his own way’

Scott Kahoe (MSB ’08) met Chris Higgins in the unlikeliest of ways. It was freshman year and Scott was a lacrosse player, Chris a football player — the two squads did not always mix. A friend of Scott’s from lacrosse and a buddy of Chris’s from football were mired in a disagreement. They met to discuss the situation, but before they parted ways, Chris asked Scott what his plans were for the next day.

“We got dinner and we became friends,” Kahoe said. “We became extremely tight.”

Once Chris’s football career was halted, he would meet Kahoe after lacrosse practice and the two would grab a bite to eat or hang out at their apartment.

“That’s the kind of person he was,” Kahoe said. “He was always someone you could count on to be there when you needed someone.”

Indeed, it is that warmth and genuineness that made the greatest impression on those close to Chris.

Wherever Chris went, remembers Liam Rogers, a long-time friend, people would come up to him, one after another, “to say hello to him and hear what he had to say, or what story he had for them this time.”

Brian Finnegan, one of Chris’s college roommates, said he made many friends thanks to Chris’s outgoing nature. “He had a captivating personality that appealed to everyone,” Finnegan said. “I was always amazed at the number of people that knew and admired Chris.”

According to Davies, one of her brother’s greatest strengths was his simple but profound ability to make people happy. “We were always waiting for him to come into a room,” she said, “because once he arrived, you knew you were in for a great time, lots of laughs, and what would become a lasting memory.”

“Chris Higgins walked in a room? You sure as hell knew it,” said Taylor Price (MSB ’09). “Nobody worked a room like Chris Higgins. He’d be in there, he’d be throwing not handshakes, hugs. Hugs and chest bumps.”

Price said he and Chris shared a special connection. After a diving accident in July 2004, Price became a C5-C6 quadriplegic. He said that Chris, because of his heart condition, “knew what it was like to deal with a ‘situation.’”

“I think he understood what that was like,” Price said. “We both just had this mutual understanding of trying to live life to the fullest every day.”

Of course, it was Chris’s lighter side that often stood out.

“You would be hard-pressed to find anyone he knew that didn’t fall victim to one of his pranks,” Calle said.

Finnegan added: “Chris had the ability to make you laugh at anytime,” calling Chris’s practical jokes “famous.”

Indeed, Chris Higgins was totally unique, according to those who knew him best.

Rogers described Chris as someone who “cared about his looks and his style, [but] could care less if people judged him.”

Chris was almost always the most well-dressed of his friends, they say.

“He was always looking sharp,” Calle said. “He was always well groomed. He was always very presentable. One night he could be wearing a pretty typical Georgetown outfit — jeans and a button down shirt tucked in — and another night he might go for a hip hop style with a hat and a chain.”

Danielle Epstein (MSB ’09) added: “Rarely did Chris wear the same outfit twice, or go out at night without diamonds somewhere, whether they be in his ears, on his wrist, or around his neck.”

The diamond earrings and diamond cross he liked to wear made him stand out, Price said. A person who hadn’t met Chris may not have known what to think. But that didn’t bother Chris Higgins.

Tagged to the back of Chris’s truck was a sticker that boldly declared: “Don’t hate.” It was a motto — one meant to celebrate his individuality — by which Higgins lived his life, Rogers said.

“He did it his own way,” Price said.

‘The Chris Higgins fashion’

Last spring, on the final day as a volunteer at a D.C. soup kitchen, Chris Higgins brought Georgetown apparel for all of his fellow volunteers. That gesture, remembered by Calle, was a microcosm of Chris’s personality.

“His generosity was legendary” Epstein said.

Calle said that Chris frequently offered to take his friends on trips to the Jersey Shore, Florida, and Georgetown basketball games, at which his family had front row seats.

“Chris was by far the most generous person I’ve ever been around,” Kahoe said. “He was always the kind of kid if you were out to dinner with him or with friends he would go out of the way to pay for the bill … He was so giving.”

Price added: “He did it in the Chris Higgins fashion.”

Carluccio said that she and her cousin ended every phone conversation with “let’s do lunch.” On one occasion when they did get around to grabbing a bite to eat, the plan was to get sandwiches at a deli. Chris wasn’t having it. Instead, they went to the upscale Café Milano.

“That’s just kind of the person he was. He just helped and made everyone happy,” Carluccio said.

In November, Chris took 10 of his friends to his family’s house at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.

“Some of the stories we had were pretty ridiculous,” recalled Kahoe. “[Chris] loved the nightlife. Because of him alone we met so many people we never would have met. He himself was a networker.”

According to several of his friends, Chris took after his family with his generosity.

“The most incredible thing about Chris’s family is the leaps and bounds they took to ensure that as a group of friends we were always taken care of,” Rogers said. “The Higgins family has been extremely generous to us throughout Chris's life and he learned a lot from his parents.”

Indeed, Davies remembers her brother as “the center of our family.”

“We loved him so much that he brought us all closer,” she said.

She recently named Higgins the godfather of her first child, Molly. “There was no question that Chris would be her godfather — for me, Chris would give her love, guidance and fun in her life,” she said.

Davies noticed an immediate connection between Molly and Chris. “[Molly] would always go right to Chris, completely unafraid. He had that charismatic personality even with a newborn baby,” she said.

Epstein said that Higgins’ love for Molly was always readily apparent. “[Chris] was especially proud of his goddaughter,” she said. “He always had the most recent picture Erin sent him of Molly as the background picture on his cell phone.”

Chris called his mother his best friend, Kahoe said.

“She looked out for him,” Kahoe added. “He’d tell me all the time, ‘My mom is literally one of the most important people in my whole life.’”

Chris also looked up to his father, Kahoe said, and “was very tight with his brother and sister.”

“His sister was kind of similar to his mom, a friendly figure,” Kahoe said. “If there were Issues with a girlfriend, whatever, she was always there for him.”

And in turn, it is his family that knows Chris best.

“When I think of the real Chris that not everybody knows,” Carluccio said, “I think of this little boy, going to the beach every day, rolling where the waves would break, covering himself with sand.”

Leaving a Legacy

Carluccio spoke with Chris the Friday evening before he passed away. As usual, they ended the conversation with, “Let’s do lunch.”

This time, they never got the chance.

But Chris’s presence is still felt.

“I know he’s still with us a little bit,” she said. “He was a guiding influence in my life. He inspired me to be myself. Be whatever I want to be. Just kind of to embrace what you have, where you are, just to take control of your life. Just to be happy.”

Indeed, just about everyone that was close to Chris learned a similar lesson from ‘Higgo.’

“Chris kind of led me to be more confident in my own interests, my own beliefs, my own convictions. He was never really a guy to follow the crowd,” Calle said.

Added Kahoe: “Chris changed my outlook on life in general, as a whole. There is a phrase my coach used to use a lot. My coach [Dave Urick] used to say, ‘Everyday is a holiday, every meal is a banquet.’ That is how [Chris] wanted to live life. He lived life to the fullest. Nothing else can compare to the experiences he had and the fun he had in life.”

Most everyone interviewed agreed: Chris lived more in his 23 years than many do in a lifetime.

Davies expressed hope that Chris’ passing will teach those that miss him to celebrate his life but also to make the most of their own.

“Chris celebrated every day — and that’s the message we want to give to all of those who are grieving right now,” she said. “To celebrate Chris’s life, we need to celebrate every day of our own lives and be thankful to have know him and to have been so positively impacted him. He was love and happiness to us all.”