During memorial, UF student remembered for curiosity, care for life

Josh Hildebrandt once pulled over on the side of the road to check on a swallowtail butterfly.

It was part of his passion for entomology, the study of insects. His friends and family said the 30-year-old UF anthropology student, who died in his sleep Saturday from an arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, never failed to show care for the insects others may have disregarded.

About 60 people gathered Thursday to share their memories of Hildebrandt during a memorial service at Steinmetz Hall. The service was held by UF’s Entomology and Nematology Department.

Several stood in the hall after all the seats had been filled, eyes closed and heads nodding, as they listened to stories of Hildebrandt’s life.

His closest friends sat up front, one empty seat at their table. On any other day it would have been Hildebrandt’s.

Andrew Nisip, a 21-year-old UF entomology senior and close friend, said Hildebrandt had a gentleness to him.

The two would look for insects at Watermelon Pond in Newberry, Florida, and they once tended to a dying butterfly.

“He just had this care and appreciation for life that I never really saw in anyone else,” he said.

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UF assistant research scientist Andrea Lucky, who worked with Hildebrandt in her lab, joked about how others mistook him for an entomology major.

“He had this great mind with lots of curiosity, and I think that’s why he found a community in science,” she said.

Before his death, Hildebrandt had been working on his senior thesis with Lucky, she said. Through research, he became one of about five experts on a particular species of moth.

Hildebrandt also quickly became friends with the about 10 other students who worked in the lab, Lucky said.

In honor of Hildebrandt, UF’s entomology department created a scholarship fund and will be planting a persimmon tree in his honor. UF will also hold a memorial service Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.

“He was really amazing. He had a lot of heart,” Lucky said.

About six and a half years ago, Hildebrandt underwent a heart transplant for a heart defect. After being on the waiting list for two years, a heart became available at the last minute, said Dr. Juan Aranda, who treated him for seven years.

At about that time, Hildebrandt became a new man, Aranda said. He chopped off hair he used to wear in a ponytail and shaved his beard. He started at Santa Fe College in 2011 before finding his true calling in entomology and later transferring to UF.

Gabriel Somarriba became emotional as he told others about his last days with Hildebrandt.

On the morning Hurricane Hermine hit, Hildebrandt decided he wanted a McDonald’s breakfast burrito. Because Gainesville locations were closed, they drove to Jonesville, about 11 miles west of UF.

“I wish I had known him for longer,” the 20-year-old UF entomology junior said. “But I wouldn’t have given those two days away for the world.”

Felicia Cruce listens as people tell her stories of her recently deceased son, Joshua Hildebrandt, at his memorial held on Thursday at the entomology hall where he used to work.