Jerry DeClasse was known to seize the day.
As an Innovation Academy student, he flourished as a leader and mentor for students in the tight-knit community and always had new ideas scribbled in his planner.
But now his ideas will stay on the page.
On Friday just before 10 p.m., DeClasse was taken off life support after receiving care at UF Health Shands Hospital following a hit-and-run accident.
He was 20.
One week earlier, DeClasse was hit by a car on Northeast Waldo Road, according to Gainesville Police. Earlier that evening, his roommates — who declined to speak to the Alligator — filed a missing persons report and told police he was dealing with mental health issues.
But friends of DeClasse have said the police report made no sense based on the man they knew.
“Jerry is not a person who had a history with mental issues,” said Hammaad Saber, one of Jerry’s close friends. “He’s the most stable person I know.”
Hammad Saber, a 21-year-old UF industrial systems engineering junior, David Nassau, a 20-year-old UF business and marketing junior, Jerry DeClasse and Natalia Tanayo, a 22-year-old UF public relations junior, interact with the audience at a Center for Leadership and Service Panel.
DeClasse, whose full name was Rude Jerry DeClasse, was born in Haiti and moved to Tampa with his family, who could not be reached for comment. He came to UF with dreams of starting his own business.
When he got to campus, DeClasse started IA Lead with Saber, 21.
As an ambassador, he ran the mentorship program and helped the organization pick up speed on social media.
The UF psychology sophomore also dove into the Gainesville entrepreneurial community. At networking events, he sported his signature brown fedora and wide grin.
“He would always have these different inside jokes with everybody,” said his former roommate, Nick Torralba, a 19-year-old UF industrial and systems engineering sophomore.
On the night of the accident, DeClasse’s roommates from this year contacted one of his best friends, David Nassau, because they were unable to reach him.
Nassau, 20, was on his way to Orlando for the Disney Marathon and also wasn’t able to reach DeClasse.
The UF business and marketing junior returned to Gainesville late Sunday night and went to visit him on Monday morning at Shands, but he was turned away. At the time, only immediate family was allowed.
But an hour before DeClasse was taken off life support, dozens of students and leaders in the Innovation Academy community came to say their last goodbyes.
Saber, a UF industrial and systems engineering junior, said when he saw his best friend hooked up to machines on Friday night, he froze.
“I wanted to say something,” he said. “But there was nothing to say.”
Nassau went in and gave his friend one last fist bump and said, “I love you man.”
Others weren’t as lucky to say goodbye in person.
One of DeClasse’s closest friends, Connor Grooms, heard about his death while overseas.
Grooms, 19, studied business at UF for a year before leaving the school to travel abroad while working on his web-design company.
But during his time at school, the two grew close.
He and DeClasse went to start-up company events, hung out at each other’s dorms and went out to clubs.
One of Grooms’ favorite memories with DeClasse embodied his outgoing personality.
For Spring Break, DeClasse visited Grooms at his home in Key West.
There, DeClasse taught him to breakdance with the moves he shows off in a YouTube video with more than 380,000 views titled “THE BEST POPPING DANCER EVER!!!!!”
The pair would often have dance battles outside of bars they were too young to get into.
“Jerry was the type of person who could do that and not worry what people thought,” he said.
As of press time, plans for a funeral and memorial had not been yet finalized.
From left: Hammaad Saber, a 21-year-old UF industrial systems engineering junior, Jerry DeClasse and Ben Vance, a 21-year-old UF industrial systems engineering junior, pose for a picture.
