Friends of University student Chad Marek have begun to reflect on his recent death, remembering the way he deeply touched their lives while wondering why he chose to take his own on Monday morning.

"If you ever had a bad day and needed some cheering up, you could give him a call and he'd be there for you," said JoAnna Roccograndi (senior-human development and family studies), who called Marek one of her closest friends.

"Whenever you needed a hug, he was always there for you," she said. "He had one of the biggest hearts I had ever seen in my life."

Marek, 20, a junior with plans to major in quantitative business analysis, was pronounced dead at 6:35 a.m. Monday at the Nittany Parking Garage service drive by Centre County Coroner Kerry Benninghoff.

In an autopsy performed yesterday, Benninghoff determined the cause of death to be a severe hemorrhage secondary to traumatically induced injuries.

"After further investigation including interviews, an autopsy and knowledge of precipitating factors, the Centre County coroner in conjunction with the Penn State police have ruled this death a suicide," he said. He refused to specify what "precipitating factors" he discovered.

Marek appears to have jumped from the top of the 55-foot parking garage and landed on the service drive about 4:30 a.m. Monday, Benninghoff said. The body was discovered about an hour later by an Office of Physical Plant employee, police said.

University Police Services Supervisor Delmar Woodring said "a lot of unanswered questions" remain while investigators continue to try to determine a reason for the suicide.

Benninghoff said he has no reason to believe alcohol was involved in the incident, but added that official results would not be available until next week.

Marek's friends were shocked to hear that Marek took his own life.

"If it was suicide, it was totally unseen," Roccograndi said.

Moe Shah, who attended Bensalem High School with Marek, said he was also surprised to hear about Marek's death.

"He was the kind of guy you would never expect it," Shah said.

Shah said he received an E-mail transmission from Marek at 11 p.m. Sunday, only hours before he died. Shah said Marek made no references to suicide in the message, but did talk about plans to visit Shah in Pittsburgh next week with his fiancee, University student Beth Bellan.

But Benninghoff said Marek's making future plans only hours before jumping from the parking garage is not an unusual occurrence in suicide cases.

"It does seem odd, but it is not uncommon at all. There are some people who plan suicide out and there are others who do it impulsively," he said.

Marek, a 20-year resident of Trevose, Pa., was a member of Circle K and the Astronomy Club and a representative for Linden House in Hamilton Hall. Friends called him a computer whiz.

But Roccograndi said Marek's biggest interest was Winnie the Pooh, something he loved since childhood.

"He was known as 'Pooh' because he was so happy and always running around and helping everybody he could," she said. "He'd probably want to be remembered as the biggest Pooh fan on the face of the earth."

A memorial service will be held Saturday morning in Levittown. Members of Linden House hope to hold a memorial service later this week for Marek in either Eisenhower Chapel or the Waring Commons lounge, Assistant Director for Residence Life Dane Foust said.

Marek's family requests that any memorial contributions be made to the Circle K Penn State chapter, the Truman High School Scholarship Fund or the Levittown American Red Cross homeless shelter.