Heartbroken mourners gathered to remember and celebrate the life of former Fresno State employee Moaaz Gill on Jan. 16 at 5 p.m. 

Gill, a three-time alumnus and former degree specialist in the Office of Undergraduate Degree Evaluations, died on Dec. 29.

Several of Gill’s colleagues, friends and former students spoke to the group of more than 80 attendees about the legacy and impact Gill had on all those he interacted with. 

Some stories told of the times they spent with Gill and how he touched their lives in many different ways. 

Gill’s girlfriend, Angelica Reyes, spoke about how much Gill always tried to make everyone around him laugh. 

“He always had everyone around him laughing. I might of heard the same jokes a hundreds of times,” Reyes said. “He celebrated life at every opportunity.” 

Reyes also talked about Gill’s commitment to learn Spanish so he could talk to her parents with no language barriers. 

Two former students of Gill’s, Harman Dhesi and Ali Abdullah, both told stories about how Gill had pushed them to pursue their dreams. 

Dhesi told the crowd about how she was told by a doctor not to pursue her goal of becoming a doctor herself, but Gill refused to let her be discouraged from the encounter. 

“He kept telling me your not going to give up,” Dhesi said. “He just kept telling me to always remember I’m the boss and he always looked out for me and always asked if I was ok. No one could match his positivity.”

“His heart was so pure that he was the type of person who would try for you no matter who you were,” Abdullah said. “He guided me through my first semester when it was really scary, he made sure I was on the right track.”