The Daily Sun reports:
Matthew Pearlstone '09 was found dead in a University of Virginia dorm room last Friday morning.
Campus police said the cause of death was unknown, but that there was no evidence of foul play. Pearlstone was visiting a friend at UVA during Cornell's spring break. Howard Pearlstone, Matthew's grandfather, told the Associated Press his grandson had been out "partying" the night before he was found dead in a bed in Cauthen residence hall. The state medical examiner in Richmond will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Pearlstone, who was a computer science and electrical engineering major at Cornell, was originally from St. Louis. He was a member of the Cornell University Autonomous Underwater Vehicle club and was named to the Dean's list. Before graduating from Ladue Horton Watkins High School, he was a marathon runner, captain of the swim team and a member of the varsity water polo team. He was also an honor student, a National Merit finalist, and a National AP Scholar.
The ever intrepid Elliott Back follows up with more.
This is, like all student deaths, a horrible tragedy for the University community. And while the cause of death remains inconclusive, many signs suggest that alcohol was involved.
As cynical as this may sound, the Cornell administration must be breathing a collective sigh of relief that the alcohol-induced death did not occur in one of Cornell's dorms or fraternity houses.
UVa's student paper has some more on the story. Given the ineptitude of the Daily Sun's investigative reporting as of recent (Andy has more here), this is probably the best information we are going to get on Pearlstone's death. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pearlstone was at a fraternity party during the course of his last evening alive.
