Oahn Cao fought back tears as she remembered her friend Nick Judge.
“He was just always a happy person,” Cao said. “He just had an impact on everyone.”
Cao, a junior in behavioral science and health, who has known Judge since high school, was told Saturday by a friend that 20-year-old Judge, a junior in mechanical engineering, had taken his life Friday morning. He is survived by his parents, his sister Bonnie Judge and older brother Jeremy Judge.
A friend notified Judge’s family that he had missed a physics test Friday morning, which was out of character for Judge, Bonnie Judge said.
“Nicky never misses an exam, so everybody was worried right away,” Bonnie Judge said.
Bonnie Judge and Nick Judge’s best friend and neighbor, Easton Cook, went over to the house where Nick Judge lived with his parents and found him in his room on his bed.
Nick Judge’s death was a shock to the family, who remembers him as an intelligent man who loved the outdoors, Bonnie Judge said.
“He was always doing outdoor things like backpacking,” Bonnie Judge said. She said Nick Judge enjoyed snowboarding, longboarding and camping.
After graduation, Nick Judge planned on getting his master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Bonnie Judge said.
“He loved it,” Bonnie Judge said. “That’s what he always wanted to do. Since he was little, he’d take things apart and try to put them back together.”
About eight months ago, Nick Judge’s close friend and fellow U engineering student, Christopher Owen, took his own life. Judge took the news hard, Cao said.
“He wouldn’t talk about it to anyone,” she said.
She said his father, Peter Judge, said he thinks the U has lost a promising engineering student who would have brought great recognition to the department and the school for years to come. His blessings of creativeness and inventiveness were a constant supply of entertainment and fun for all who knew him, Peter Judge told Cao.
Cao said Peter Judge is urging other students to never be afraid to drop a course to concentrate on other courses.
“Don’t let your coursework become an impediment in your natural curiosity and joy in your chosen subject,” Cao recounted Peter Judge saying.
The Judge family will hold a service for Nick Judge on Friday at 4 p.m. at the Christ Lutheran Church in Murray.
Editor’s Note — After reviewing the recorded interview with Bonnie Judge, The Daily Utah Chronicle modified this article with consideration of her family’s circumstances.
