Jacob Gedetsis remembered walking through the Detroit Institute of Arts with Will Georges. They stopped at a piece called “Be I” by Barnett Newman. Gedetsis described the piece as a massive deep red canvas with a white line through it.

Gedetsis said he hated the painting. Georges said it was his favorite painting in the museum.

“I asked why. He said, ‘because it can be so many things to so many different people,’” Gedetsis, a first-year graduate student, said. “That’s the kind of person that Will was. Will opened my mind and so many other people’s minds to so many possibilities of life and what those things could offer.”

Georges, a second-year in the Master of Fine Arts program for creative writing, died last week at 24.

Georges joined Syracuse University’s MFA program in fall 2017 after graduating from Oakland University with a degree in psychology, Gedetsis said. They met while Gedetsis was taking MFA courses as a senior at SU. He said they bonded over having similar backgrounds, Georges being from Detroit and Gedetsis from Cleveland.

Georges loved watching anime and movies. He loved to go out and dance. He was a “voracious reader,” and loved David Berman, Silver Jews and old-school Lil Wayne.

“He had a really strong, deep interest in music and the music scene,” said Anthony Veasna So, a second-year MFA student. “He was always sending me music to listen to and had a wide, eclectic musical taste.”

So described Georges as sensitive and empathetic. He was the kind of person who could talk with anyone about anything, So said.

“We would just talk about everything,” So said. “He knew always how to get on the same level as you. He deeply cared for the people he was close to.”

Gedetsis said Georges was the most genuine person he’d ever met. He said Georges never interacted on a “superficial level,” and never made small talk.

“He’d treat you the same if you were the pope or if you were a car mechanic,” Gedetsis said. “He had no idea how to switch codes. He was always genuinely 100% Will.”

Sarah Harwell, associate director of the MFA program, said Georges was a gifted poet and friend. She said Georges had one flaw: he was a “terrible mover.” Harwall recalled a time when she hired Georges to move furniture.

“Instead of moving furniture, he told jokes, was incredibly sweet, ate all the bagels and afterwards sent me an email saying how much fun it had been (to) ‘be around normal non socially impaired adults with good taste who swear and laugh,’” Harwell said in an email to The Daily Orange. “We will miss him with all our hearts.”

The department is working on hosting a memorial service, Gedetsis said, and Georges’ friends are now trying to collect his poems to release in a small book to the public.

“Will was a beautiful person and extremely talented poet,” said Chris Kennedy, co-director of the MFA department. “He will be missed greatly by those of us who knew and loved him.”

Published on April 9, 2019 at 11:34 pm

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