GU Alum Murdered in NYC

Georgetown alumnus Vidal Pérez-Galan (MSB ’99) was found dead by his roommate in his Harlem apartment on the morning of Dec. 16 after being shot three times.

New York Police Department officials say they believe the motive was robbery and suspect that the murderer spotted Pérez-Galan withdrawing $40 from an ATM and then followed him back to his West 130th Street home. No arrests have been made.

A native of Houston, Tx., Pérez-Galan graduated from Georgetown with a Bachelor of Science degree in Languages and Business Administration. He studied abroad in Russia at Moscow State University during his junior year. An active member and historian of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity while at Georgetown, Pérez-Galan was also involved in the Georgetown Alumni Association.

Following his graduation from Georgetown, Pérez-Galan worked the following summer as an independent contractor, developing programs in management and technology education. In 2003 he moved to New York City, enrolling in the New York City Teaching Fellows Program and working on his masters at City College. He joined the faculty at the Fordham University Leadership Academy for Business and Technology in Sept. 2003.

Since then, Pérez-Galan has served as a dean while teaching English to non-natives at a Bronx high school. He started a hip-hop dance team and was able to help bring in business executives to speak to students about their careers.

The high school knew him as a dedicated, hardworking teacher, an advocate for his students and a master of making use of available resources.

Pérez-Galan is the second member of his fraternity pledge line to have died. Former Alpha Pi Omega member Carla Lara died on Aug. 19, 1998 after battling leukemia for nearly a year.

“Vidal was a kind-hearted person who was very protective of his fraternity,” Rashid Darden (COL ’01) said.

Darden said that Pérez-Galan, who realized that he was gay early in his teens, was a role model for Darden, who later pledged and came out publicly about his homosexuality.

“He helped to make my life as an ‘out’ Georgetown man bearable,” Darden said.

Left with much grief and many memories, the high school commemorated Perez with a memorial service on Dec. 22. Written pledges with commitments to work on areas that Pérez-Galan often suggested to his students fill a bulletin board in the academy’s hall. The high school also established the Vidal Perez Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Classmate Adam Stellato (COL ’98) attended the memorial service, noting that many of Pérez-Galan’s friends were there to commemorate his life.

“At the memorial service, Vidal’s friend Igor Orlovsky (COL’99) referred to him as ‘the little Puerto Rican engine that could,’” Stellato said.