With affection and laughter, eight friends packed into a booth at Plato’s Diner on Route 1 yesterday evening to remember David Ellis: staggering under the weight of newly-purchased vinyl records; spinning everything from obscure Earth, Wind and Fire to hot new Jay-Z; scooping ice cream and buying dinner for friends at the North Campus Diner; approaching everything he did with unflagging optimism and unmatched zeal.

“You couldn’t find a sweeter kid,” said Peter Rosenberg, who sometimes shared airtime with Ellis at the WMUC campus radio station before Rosenberg graduated in 2002. “He was just a music geek who loved music.”

The 22-year-old African-American and American studies major died in a fire early yesterday morning in his Knox Box apartment, leaving family and friends in College Park and Princeton Junction, N.J., to mourn his lively spirit.

What he did well – writing, blending rhythms, dressing to kill, making new friends – he did with contagious enthusiasm, friends said. What he didn’t do as well – dancing, playing sports, eating with restraint – he tackled with equal abandon.

“Ellis had a quiet confidence about him,” said Jason Nichols, an African-American studies graduate student. “That was one thing I loved about Ellis – he never took himself too seriously.”

Family members could not be reached yesterday, and friends do not know when a memorial service may be held.

Soon after arriving on the campus for the fall 2002 semester, Ellis began working for Dining Services and manning his own radio show from midnight to 3 a.m. every Saturday. At first he played tracks from his extensive CD collection, but he soon became enamored of DJing.

“About a year and a half in he brought in turn tables and basically learned to DJ on the air,” said Rosenberg.

“He would practice for five to six hours every weekend,” said Greg Santiago, a former university student who shared the show with Ellis.

Ellis’ album collection approached 2,000, thanks to trips to the CD Game Exchange in College Park and the Princeton Record Exchange back home, where his friends said he had an uncanny knack for unearthing the best music.

As he neared graduation, Ellis began DJing for house parties and dreamed of writing about music for a living as he did for the Black Explosion newspaper.

“I think that’s why we all love him – he ate hip hop,” Nichols said.

The station eventually moved Ellis to the prestigious 9 p.m. to midnight Friday time slot. In addition to playing hip hop, the hosts discussed social issues centering around race and personal identity on the air.

“Whenever anyone would say, ‘Why don’t you give up your slot and take another time? It’s Friday night and you’re missing going out, chilling,’ he was like, ‘This is what I’d rather do – I’d rather do this than anything else,'” Nichols said.

Nearly every week after the show, Ellis and his friends adjourned to Plato’s Diner, like the group did last evening – this time to remember his passion.

Contact reporter Kate Campbell at campbelldbk@gmail.com.