To those who knew Anthony Verstraete, the man's enthusiasm and capacity for wonder set him apart from all others.

Verstraete died at the age of 60 Wednesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage last Monday.

The former associate professor of management information systems had a frenetic and energetic teaching style that did not prevent him from devoting his individual attention to students, said Hans Masing, a management information systems major of the Class of 1994.

"He loved his students," Masing said. "I owe my career to him, frankly."

While professors usually prepare students for their first jobs, Verstraete's devotion to his students built foundational skills for their future careers, he said. Masing said he developed a close friendship with Verstraete, who was tolerant of his lack of future plans. Working as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Verstraete inspired Masing to pursue a research career at the University of Michigan.

Like Masing, Bill Valonis also found his future path as a student of Verstraete's. Valonis, who graduated in 1991 with a degree in management information systems, remembered Verstraete as an artistic man who was interested in playing guitar and shooting photography, often operating on a small amount of sleep. Verstraete mentored Valonis when he was an undergraduate student, and was his thesis adviser when he was a graduate student, his former student said.

Verstraete later became Valonis' colleague when he worked on computer support at Penn State, and hosted Valonis' wedding reception with a cookout in his backyard -- reminiscent of the days when Verstraete invited students to his home for picnics, Valonis said.

Former students who attended Verstraete's funeral Saturday could not say enough about how different he was from other professors, his daughter, Spring Verstraete-Long, said.

"They were like his children in a way, and you don't find that in a lot of professors," Verstraete-Long said.

Verstraete touched the lives of more than 10,000 students in his 23-year teaching career at Penn State, Verstraete-Long said. Verstraete used to take pictures of his students to memorize their names by the end of the first week of classes, she said.

Brian Eschbacher, a business administration major of the Class of 2003, said Verstraete's enthusiasm dissolved the disinterest of most students sitting in a lecture course.

"He was hyper," Eschbacher said. "He would run up and down the stairs of the Forum and ask you a question in class just so you participated, even though there were 250 people in there."

The six-foot-tall, 175-pound, blue-eyed man had a demanding, exuberant presence full of life, and would bound into any setting, Verstraete-Long said. He was a man who spent the 1960s travelling across the world, playing blues and folk music on his guitar for money, she said.

"He lived a lot more than a lot of 90-year-olds can say," Verstraete-Long said.