Ryan McCann, a junior biology major, died Nov. 4 of injuries he suffered in a car accident. He was known by family and friends as a loving man with a passion for science and playing the drums.
Whether entertaining roommates in Hagerstown Hall, drumming in formation in his high school band or alone tapping out whatever rhythm came to mind, Ryan McCann truly marched to his own beat.
“Ryan had to always do things his own way, and his way was always the most difficult way you could do things,” his mother Karen McCann said with a laugh.
McCann, a junior biology major at this university, died Nov. 4 of injuries he suffered in a car accident in Silver Spring.
Born in Havre de Grace on March 14, 1991, McCann grew up in Mt. Airy with his two brothers, Sean and Brendan McCann, and parents, Karen and David McCann.
After graduating from Linganore High School, he brought his academic motivation and a passion for drumming to this campus.
“I don’t think he realized not everyone enjoys the sound of just drums,” McCann’s girlfriend of more than four years, Tasha Tully said with a laugh. “I don’t think [his playing alone] was ever really structured, which is pretty much how Ryan lived his life — unstructured and in his own way.”
At this university, friends said McCann was likely one of the only students to fit a drum set in a North Campus quad, where he convinced three roommates to reconfigure a cramped Hagerstown Hall dorm room — four dressers and desks and two bunk beds — to accommodate drums he sometimes played into the early mornings.
“He had a blast doing it,” said Andrew Garavito, who lived on the Hagerstown third floor that year. “People would come down and say, ‘OK, who has a drum set?’ and we’d say ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.'”
Although McCann had an active social life, he was an equally dedicated student and often skipped parties to study. His friend and former resident assistant Mike Mazzarella said he remembers being amazed by McCann’s keenness for science.
“I remember it just blowing my mind because it was such an intense concept that not many people could wrap their heads around, and that was really cool,” said Mazzarella, a 2011 alumnus.
Since his sophomore year, McCann spent hours working in university researcher Charles Delwiche’s lab, perfecting complex and sensitive procedures to measure genome sizes in cells.
“He was extremely bright, hard working, dynamic and funny. He wasn’t afraid to tell me if he thought I was wrong,” Delwiche said in an email, adding that McCann’s work will appear in at least one scientific journal.
The junior also tutored his friends, and once taught nearly a semester’s worth of material in one night to help them pass a biology final, said senior finance and psychology major Brendan George, who lived on McCann’s floor two years ago.
Outside of academics, friends said McCann was always happy to offer sound advice and a smile when they needed a confidant.
“I could go to him with anything, and he’d have the most on-point, best advice for any situation,” said George.
Friends and family said remembering McCann’s “contagious laugh” and endless jokes will keep them smiling.
“He just had this outrageous sense of humor, outrageous love of life,” Karen McCann said. “In his short 20 years, we have enough Ryan stories to last us forever.”
His friends continued to share those happy memories with her.
“I think every kid that lived on the third floor of Hagerstown Hall that year came to the funeral hall Monday evening, and every one of them just told me how much they loved him and how he made them smile,” Karen McCann said.
McCann had long planned to apply to medical school, and his family asks any memorial contributions be made to Doctors Without Borders, an organization exemplifying his compassion.
“Ryan was a lover,” said Tully, a West Virginia University alumna who planned to attend graduate school at this university. “He had such a big heart and he loved his friends and family so much. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for him and I’m so thankful for the time he shared with me.”
McCann is survived by his parents David and Karen McCann; brothers Sean and Brendan McCann; grandparents John and Marilyn Gradoni, James Edward and Clara Worden McCann; and manay aunts, uncles and cousins.
lurye@umdbk.com
