Bridget Gunn, a case manager and care coordinator in the student life division, died on May 16 following a yearlong battle with mesothelioma, a rare cancer. She was 36 and had worked at Lafayette College since 2023.

“She was truly proud to be part of the Lafayette family, and it was clear the feeling was mutual,” wrote Gunn’s sister, Kelsey Turcott, in a eulogy she shared with The Lafayette.

Gunn is remembered by her colleagues for her joyful nature and frequent laughter. 

“Bridget was the life of the place,” said Mark Sapara, the associate vice president of the student life division. Sapara joined Lafayette a year after Gunn and occupied a Feather House office down the hall from hers. He called Gunn his “first lifeline.”

“I just loved every day being able to pop into her office and joke around,” Sapara said. “Sometimes we would laugh to the point where my stomach hurt and I’d have to leave.”

As a case manager and care coordinator, Gunn triaged student One Pard reports, coordinating support and connecting with students to ensure proper help. She had a background in child services and transitioned into her role at Lafayette from a social work setting.

“She made you feel that you were the most important person she was working with, even if she had dozens of cases,” said Alexis Leon, the assistant director of experiential learning in the Gateway Career Center. “You never felt the weight of the load she was carrying with you, because she was making sure it was a shared burden.”

Gunn was also a member of the student life division’s informal social committee, dubbed the “Pard-y Animals.” The group celebrated division birthdays, organized a walking club and created opportunities to recognize employees, spotlighting different workers at each monthly meeting with shoutouts and small gifts.

“I would definitely call her a catalyst for fun,” Leon, a fellow member of the committee, said of Gunn.

“You couldn’t meet her and not love her,” said student involvement staffer Melissa Dalrymple, calling Gunn “instrumental” to the Pard-y Animals.

“She was just this ball of energy, straight shooter,” she continued. “The work that she did was not easy, and she always found a way to still be really positive.”

Outside of her professional career, Gunn was a proud devotee to all Boston sports teams and had an immense love for dogs. She shared three dogs with her husband, Brian Gunn, and several colleagues reflected fondly on the times Gunn brought them to campus.

Gunn, who also battled kidney cancer at age 2, received her mesothelioma diagnosis in June.

“Over the past year, even as she faced her illness with incredible strength, Bridget never stopped showing up for the people she loved,” Gunn’s sister wrote in her eulogy. “She continued to live fully and give selflessly.”

Sapara shared a text he had received from Gunn in an exchange about her diagnosis.

“I’m so grateful to work with such amazing people,” Gunn wrote. “I know our students are in good hands. I keep fighting and get better so I can continue to come back to do the work I love.”