image002Emerson College alumnus David P. Twomey died June 30 after contracting the H1N1 Influenza virus. He was 27.

Mr. Twomey became ill June 24.

A Portland, Maine native, he was a 2001 graduate of Cheverus High School. Mr. Twomey received a B.A. in communication arts from Gannon University in Erie, Pa., in 2005. He graduated from Emerson in 2006 with a master’s degree in political and organizational communications.

According to the college, Mr. Twomey had lived in Washington, D.C. since 2007 and was working as an operations coordinator for digital media services for the U.S. Federal Courts Office of Public Affairs since June 2008.

“There are those times in teaching when you are blessed with an exceptionally talented and humane and incredibly gifted student — that was my experience with David Twomey,” said J. Gregory Payne, Twomey’s former professor, in a statement released by Emerson. Mr. Twomey was Payne’s graduate assistant. “He lit up the room with his smile and compassion and love of politics and the promise of public diplomacy. He truly was one of the most gifted students I have ever encountered and left a lasting legacy in whatever he did and to those he touched in his all too-short-time with us.”

A funeral mass was said on Tuesday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Maine.

About The Author

John Guilfoil is the editor-in-chief of Blast: Boston's Online Magazine and the Blast Magazine Network. He can be reached at [email protected]. Tweet @johnguilfoil.

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