Michael Sinnott was a go-getter.
“I just think that when someone passes away, people always think about the person,” said Leslie Limardo, Associate Dean for Academic and Administrative Support Services. “From my perspective, when someone passes I think you should look at something in their life that inspired you, and with him, I think it’s just ‘live life to the fullest.’ He challenged himself academically, you know, he lived life.”
Sinnott, 28, a senior at the School of General Studies, died Jan.10 from a pre-existing condition.
Sinnott was from Pennsylvania, and attended Valley Forge Military Academy. After spending a short time in the French Foreign Legion and touring Europe, he graduated from the Swedish Institute’s School of Massage Therapy in New York City, and went on to work as a massage therapist for cruise ships, spas, and chiropractors.
“I knew that it [massage therapy school] would not be challenging enough for him,” said Sinnott’s mother, Sharon DeFino.
DeFino said Sinnott went to Manhattan Community College to further his studies.
“Then he decided to apply to Columbia,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘Michael you have a GED … are you sure? Maybe you should have a backup plan.”
An environmental biology major with a concentration in sustainable development, Sinnott had been a student at Columbia since the fall of 2006.
“The first time I met him was actually at Glass House Rocks,” Nicolle Rountree, Sinnott’s best friend and a fellow GS student, said.
“I was sitting at a table in Lerner and my best friend had a class with him … He kissed me and proceeded to talk about me like he knows me for five years,” she recounted. “He asked for my phone number. I said ‘no’.”
“By the time I got home I had seven e-mails from him,” she continued. “It was like that every day—it wasn’t more than four hours before I heard from him, got a text or an e-mail.” But soon, she said, they became close friends.
“His adventure for life was contagious,” said Chad Miller, who graduated from GS in 2007. “There was a sense of adventure he had about him … I think hanging around him allowed me to explore those qualities within myself.”
While he found academics difficult, according to friends, he is remembered for his staunch determination in class.
“Classes weren’t easy for him at all,” Rountree said. “The time commitment and physical commitment and the ability to survive on sleep deprivation was something that was really draining on his system, but [he felt that] it was all worth it.”
“He and his [lab] partner were the ones who stayed in lab every single week to finish their lab,” said Sidney Hemming, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, referring to Sinnott’s Solid Earth System class.
Sinnott was also known for his strong school spirit, consistently providing the General Studies Student Council with feedback.
“He was sort of like the pseudo-delegate,” Rountree said. “He was there to voice his opinion whether someone asked for it or not.”
“He was very interested in our policy initiatives, and he was one of the few GS students to respond to my e-mails with questions and suggestions for the GSSC policy committee,” GSSC president Katherine Edwards, GS ‘10, wrote in an e-mail.
Sinnott was also very active outside of the classroom, spending some time in the military before he came to GS and participating in community service programs, such as New York Cares.
Outside of the classroom, Sinnott was known as a charmer, constantly putting smiles on people’s faces with numerous jokes.
“He was very funny,” Limardo said. “He always had a joke.”
She recalled his costume for his first Halloween at Columbia. “He came dressed up like a woman, like decked out,” she laughed. “Boobs, hairy legs, skirt … I was just like, ‘I can’t believe you were walking around campus looking crazy like that!”
Rountree agreed, adding, “A lot of people had preconceived notions of him being a bit … off the handle,” she said, noting how he was always “flirting with the girls at the café in Butler,” “making statues out of the food in John Jay,” and even signing his e-mails, whether they were sent to professors, friends, or family, with “sin-seriously.”
“For many of us at the wake and the funeral, there was always this aspect that the final joke hadn’t been played … that Michael was going to jump out of the coffin,” Miller added.
Family also noted his large heart for strangers.
“I don’t care if you were gay, straight, black, or green, Michael always looked for someone’s heart,” DeFino said. “At the end of [his] shift [at Starbucks], Michael would collect all the sandwiches and give them out to all these homeless people on the way home.”
What stood out the most to his family and friends was his ability to push them out of their comfort zones and expose them to new adventures on a daily basis.
Rountree added, “A couple of times we ended up on the top of Butler, in the top of Low—that’s just not something that normal Columbia students get to experience.”
Columbia will hold an on-campus memorial service for Sinnott on Feb. 1 at 2:30 pm.
madina.toure@columbiaspectator.com
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