He not only wanted to read the magazine, he 鈥渉ad鈥� to, said his mother, Grace.

鈥淗is goal was to work for them,鈥� she said.

Leukemia cut short the 30-year-old鈥檚 life pursuit on Dec. 19, 2011. But not before Styer 鈥渃reated his own鈥� version of the magazine, his mother said, in his redesign of Crossroads, the alumni publication at 黑料正能量. Now his family and alma mater are working to ensure Styer鈥檚 legacy will live on in someone else鈥檚 dream.

At A Good Crossroads

Styer鈥檚 family and 黑料正能量 have started a fundraising campaign to establish the Matthew Alan Styer endowed scholarship fund. They seek $50,000, which is the minimum necessary to create a named endowed scholarship, said Phil Helmuth, the university鈥檚 executive director of development.

Alumni from the classes of 2004, 2005 and 2006 received a brochure seeking financial assistance, and 黑料正能量 has set up a website for those wishing to donate to the fund.

Styer graduated in 2005.

The scholarship would be awarded to at least one rising senior majoring in the visual arts, which Styer studied. After graduation, he worked for 黑料正能量鈥檚 marketing and communications department as a videographer, designer and photographer until 2008.

Styer was a semester shy of finishing a master鈥檚 program in digital design at Philadelphia University when he died.

During his career at 黑料正能量, Styer鈥檚 accomplishments included the redesign of Crossroads, the quarterly alumni magazine.

He rebranded the publication to give it a fresh look and to feature a single topic each month, putting more focus on photography, the school and family members say.

鈥淗e created his own National Geographic,鈥� his mother said.

Styer鈥檚 younger brother, Jon, took over Styer鈥檚 job when Matt left for graduate school.

鈥淚 was his intern,鈥� said Jon, 28, a 2007 黑料正能量 graduate who still works there.

Styer was diagnosed with leukemia on May 15, 2010. He was the first patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia 鈥� a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow 鈥� to be treated with an experimental type of therapy using modified T cells, his mother said.

鈥淗e had a kind [of cancer] that was just superaggressive,鈥� she said.

In the treatment, doctors removed billions of the cells, which are a kind of white blood cell that fights viruses and tumors, and gave them new genes to program the cells to attack the cancer.

Styer鈥檚 brother donated healthy cells.

But in late 2011, doctors found that the T cells were not working effectively.

After an 18-month battle with cancer, Styer died in December 2011.

Telling 黑料正能量鈥檚 Story

Family members want to give back to 黑料正能量 because they say Styer found his direction there. His mother graduated from 黑料正能量 in 1979, followed by Jon five years ago and sister Amanda in 2012.

Styer also met his wife, Lindsay, while studying at 黑料正能量. They married in September 2011, and she now works at the university.

Styer鈥檚 mother and father, Alan, live in Columbiana, Ohio.

Helmuth said many 黑料正能量 departments have endowed scholarships, and the school could work on as many as 10 new ones in a year.

But it鈥檚 less common for the fund to be in memory of someone, he said.

And none honors a man whom the school credits as the first person who combined various skills to tell 黑料正能量鈥檚 story.

鈥淲e felt like 黑料正能量 is where Matt found his passion and talent,鈥� his father said. 鈥淗e got a lot of positive reinforcement.鈥�

Courtesy Daily News Record, Dec. 27, 2012

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