In Memoriam: Daniel Granda Peñafiel

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Daniel Granda Peñafiel who passed away on May 6, 2021, at the age of 19.

Daniel was a second-year IBA student who began studying at the University of Twente in September 2019. Daniel was a motivated and engaged student who participated in both the STAR programme in the first module and the UT Honours programme. In the first module, Daniel showed a unique set of interests that he liked to talk about during class discussions. He shared original ideas about the future of management, highlighting important issues about the competition between employees and wellbeing in the workplace; and was interested in developing the risk assessment skills of entrepreneurs in developing countries.

He enjoyed working with the project groups within different modules and especially enjoyed the marketing component within the programme. He was an enthusiastic student who actively participated in virtual lectures and workshops in the DMNB module. He really enjoyed working with his teammates on the marketing project for which he created a website about travelling on a budget. He was a very creative person, he directed and edited this video for the project, and also wrote the music for it. His classmates and teachers enjoyed working with him because of his dedicated approach to studying and his willingness to help others.

Daniel was an Ecuadorian student and could not wait to start learning the Dutch language. He was able to pick it up relatively quickly and was even able to have small conversations in Dutch using relatively difficult words. Daniel was also very passionate about music and especially DJ’ing. He was always busy with buying new DJ materials, following courses and creating his own samples and music. He was particularly proud of one song called ‘Skyline’ that he shared on his Soundcloud. Daniel recently made his own website focusing on his passions and his personal life.

Daniel will be deeply missed. Our condolences go to Daniel’s family and friends in Ecuador and America, and also to his friends in the Netherlands, including his close friends on the IBA programme and at the UT. We wish everyone a lot of strength, love and courage in dealing with the loss of Daniel.

As currently no physical education is permitted at the university, an online condolence register is available for people to leave messages.

Students who need help or feel the need to talk, can contact the study adviser (l.ay@utwente.nl) or student psychologists (https://www.utwente.nl/en/ces/sacc/).

Staff can contact HR, who can refer them to company doctors and psychologists.

On behalf of,

  • Prof. dr. Theo Toonen (Dean BMS Faculty)
  • Prof. dr. Ciano Aydin (Vice Dean Education BMS Faculty)
  • Dr. Michel Ehrenhard (Programme Director International Business Administration)
  • Lena Ay, MSc. (Study Adviser International Business Administration)
  • Rachel Scott, MA (Programme Coordinator International Business Administration)