By IAN BENJAMIN
Executive Editor
Bakari Masso Lake-Sample, a graduate student in the department of communications, died Sunday, Jan. 29. He was concentrating in media production and had been attending classes regularly until shortly before his death. Lake-Sample had worked on class projects with several current graduate students.
“He made me laugh. You had to get him talking, but once you did, he had an awesome sense of humor. Bakari, Steve Felano and I spent hours together for a group project, and I really got to see just how funny he was,” said graduate student Timothy Branfalt. “He made the frantic work more tenable.”
“We talked sports. We talked music. He made fun of my teams, and turned me onto some hip-hop he posted,” added Branfalt.
Lake-Sample was known for his love of music, especially hip-hop. Through his website, www.areyouinthatmoodyet.com, Lake-Sample hosted videos of various artists to help them gain exposure in the music world, according to his obituary. He also helped with music production of emerging artists.
“I remember chatting to him in our Interviewing class [with Mary Meyers] at the beginning of the semester,” said graduate student Aoife Herbert. “We talked about how his website was doing and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). He had some pretty strong views on its inadequacies lets say!”
Bakari had attended St. Pius X Catholic School from the 3rd to the 8th grade before graduating from Bishop Maginn High School in May 2004.
“I always admired Bakari because, despite his handicap, he never seemed to let it bother him,” said Adam Rossi, a Maginn classmate. He lived several blocks from Lake-Sample and would sometimes give him rides home from school. “He was always in a good mood whenever I saw him, and I don’t think we ever had a conversation where we didn’t make each other laugh.”
Lake-Sample has been interred at Graceland Cemetary in Albany.
