Middlebury Mourns the Death of Student Michael Moss

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Middlebury College mourns the death of Michael Moss, a rising senior from the Class of 2018, who died on Thursday, August 17, following an extended illness. President Laurie Patton notified the campus community in an email, noting that she had been in touch with Moss’s family to express the community’s deepest sympathies.

Moss was expected to complete his Middlebury studies this fall, majoring in environmental studies/conservation biology joint with biology, and graduate on March 1, 2018. Patton awarded Moss an honorary bachelor of arts degree prior to his death last week.

A New York City native, Moss graduated from the Dalton School. In addition to his regular undergraduate studies, he attended the Middlebury Spanish School in the summer of 2015. He was on the Dean’s List and a College Scholar during his time at Middlebury, and was a member of the men’s rugby club and the yoga club.

Moss’s advisor, Professor of Environmental and Biosphere Studies Steve Trombulak, recalled early-morning treks with Moss to a nearby area known as “The Sanctuary,” where Trombulak often conducts migratory bird research with students.

“We shared a lot of mornings watching the sun come up over the Green Mountains and the Otter Creek, opening row upon row of mist nets to catch the birds migrating through the Middlebury College Teaching and Research Floodplain Forest Natural Area,” recalled Trombulak. “Each bird we banded and released formed one more connection for us with the natural world, one more neighbor in the wider ecosystem we were privileged to participate in.”

Moss is survived by his parents, Bob Moss and Michela Nonis, of New York, and his sister, Alessandra. The College will share information about an on-campus celebration of Michael Moss’s life when details are available.