Music still poured across the airwaves from WMUC last night, but for friends of campus radio station DJ and junior Bryan Massoff, the tunes carried a somber tone.

Massoff was found dead in his University Courtyards apartment Monday afternoon, just hours before he was expected to host his 10 p.m. radio show Moroder Lives.

While the medical examiner investigates the cause of his death and the police slowly disseminate information, Massoff’s friends and coworkers are gathering to swap memories of the quiet, compassionate music enthusiast.

“What everyone really wants to do now is speak to him rather than basically speaking to his network of friends, but that’s not possible for us anymore,” said Sami Tannouri, a 2007 alumnus who lived with Massoff last year.

Chris Berry, a junior history and sociology major, also lived in the Prince George’s Hall suite with Massoff and Tannouri. Berry remembered Massoff as being a rather eccentric roommate – he would bring nice silverware and glasses to the campus despite not having a kitchen.

Massoff had an appreciation for the finer things in life, both Berry and Tannouri agreed, adding that when he found something he enjoyed, he strived to get the most from even its minor features.

“He just really appreciated the details of life, and that’s why he was such an eye-opening person,” Tannouri said. “That’s the trivial stuff that made Bryan change my life – the fact that he can take ordinary things and notice extraordinary things about them.”

Junior Alexandra Douglas-Barrera met Massoff when the two were slated to DJ an event in the Cambridge Community on North Campus their freshman year. At the time, Douglas-Barrera only knew him as the “strikingly handsome” boy she’d seen in the studio.

But after exploring his extensive music collection and discovering a shared fondness for underground films, he became one of her close friends.

“He was pretty reserved, and it took a little while to get to know him, but when I did, I got to know a person who was very kind, very generous and very gentle,” said Douglas-Barrera, a journalism major.

Both she and Berry have written for The Diamondback’s Diversions section.

Douglas-Barrera said she planned to take a moment of silence for him on her radio show last night. It was fitting, she said, adding that a a large, public memorial wouldn’t reflect a private person like Massoff.

“I think it’s the kind of thing where the grief is very personal and should be shared with those who understand it,” Douglas-Barrera said.

Outside the studio, friends said Massoff was a dedicated student who studied psychology and pre-medicine with aspirations of becoming a psychiatrist.

Kristy Lunquest, a 2007 alumna and close friend of Massoff, couldn’t find words to describe her grief, but was able to convey something expressing it via e-mail after some reflection and thought.

She said the two built a trusting relationship that allowed them to help each other work through problems. They shared favorite artists and both enjoyed Massoff’s cooking, but one of her most cherished memories was when she was sick and he unexpectedly brought her hot chocolate.

“He was a very unique person, and I miss him deeply already,” Lunquest said in an e-mail. “I am still in denial over the fact that he is really gone. I keep wanting to talk to him, but realize that I won’t be able to anymore.”

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