Things were going well for Cyrus Rastegar Monday afternoon before coming to an abrupt end.
The 24-year-old graduate student had just moved into a new apartment, was working as a nurse at Tulane University Medical Center and was leaving campus with the second-highest score on a test in his pathophysiology class where he was studying disturbances to the body that a disease causes or that can cause a disease.
But that all ended when Rastegar, a first-year nursing student died after losing control of his motorcycle Monday at about 2:30 p.m.
Rastegar is survived by his father, mother and a younger brother. Originally from New Orleans, the family has been living in San Jose, Calif. since Hurricane Katrina.
Rastegar returned to New Orleans in the spring for his second semester at Loyola, and was working toward his master’s in nursing with hopes of becoming a family nurse practitioner.
Eyewitnesses told The Times-Picayune that Rastegar was swerving in and out of Carrollton Avenue traffic before he sideswiped two cars and was pinned between his motorcycle and another car.
Rastegar, according to the eyewitness accounts, was alive after the initial crash but was pronounced dead on the scene after paramedics failed to revive him.
The death came as a shock to those who knew him, said Monica Ball, student records coordinator in the School of Nursing. Ball, who first met Rastegar during his application process, remembered him as a passionate student.
Ball said he was very serious about his coursework.
“He was an ideal student, and he was one of our best students,” Ball said.
Gwendolyn George, an instructor in the School of Nursing, taught Rastegar during Spring II and has similar memories.
“He was a bright student, and the other students really liked him,” George said.
Family and close friends held a Zoroastrian service Wednesday afternoon at Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home in honor of Rastegar. University Ministry is planning a memorial service for his friends, family and co-workers, said Kurt Bindewald, dean of University Ministry. A date and time was not set as of Wednesday.
Daniel Monteverde can be reached at dcmontev@loyno.edu.