Sonoma State University mourns the death of 20-year-old Oswaldo Moya Diaz who tragically passed away on Feb. 15, after a seven-month-long battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Many members of the SSU community were first alerted of Diaz’s passing on Thursday, Feb. 17, when Diaz’s fraternity, Nu Alpha Kappa, shared a tribute post via their Instagram, honoring their brother. 

The post read, “On behalf of the Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity’s Three Gamma Chapter, we regret to inform you that one of our own has left us to join our fallen brothers at the Omega Chapter.”

Diaz was a bright soul who had endless amounts of love and compassion for everyone around and was said to have been an amazing brother to his Nu Alpha Kappa family.    

Diaz’s sister, Paola Moya, created a GoFundMe page on Feb. 16, to help relieve the costs of his medical bills along with other costs that come with losing a loved one. 

“On February 15, 2022, God received another angel into his realm. After 7 long months of an arduous battle with AML Leukemia, our dear Oswaldo has left us with heavy hearts,” read the GoFundMe page.

“At only twenty years old, he inspired many. He was a son, an older brother, a friend, a cousin, a Sonoma State student, a boyfriend, and a light to this world. Positive and brave as he was, he battled his illness every single day. He was taken too soon, too young and there will be a void in our hearts. We will remember him with love and remember him as the loving, kind, and courageous young man he was,” wrote Moya for the page.  

While the GoFundMe page is no longer active, a total of $18,339 was made in just over a week and his family has expressed their gratitude to the community for coming together to support them in this difficult time. 

Acute Myeloid Leukemia or Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), is one of the most common types of Leukemia among adults, however, it is rarely diagnosed in people under the age of 40.

Many of SSU’s Greek life organizations expressed their condolences and well wishes to Oswaldo’s family and fraternity beneath Nu Alpha Kappa’s Instagram post stating, “We send our condolences to your chapter and the loved ones of Oswaldo.”

According to Diaz’s LinkedIn, he started attending SSU in 2019 as an undeclared student with plans on majoring in Wine Business and Administration. 

Diaz was also a student intern at the SSU DREAM Center, a safe space on campus where undocumented students could go for academic, personal, and professional guidance, where he began in 2019 and worked up until his passing.   

Along with his internship at the DREAM Center, Diaz was also a part of 

SSU’s PUERTA program. This program aims to help Latino and Hispanic students reach their goal of becoming a teacher and earning their teaching credentials.

Diaz is remembered by his parents, friends, fraternity brothers, siblings, and girlfriend of almost two years, Jaidyn Ramirez, who all stood by his side through it all. 

Ramirez expressed her love for her long-time boyfriend in an Instagram post honoring the time she shared with Diaz, “My soulmate, my partner, my best friend, the love of my life. You have blessed life more than you will ever know. I will never forget you and I will think about all the memories we made this past year and a half every day. I still don’t know how I got so lucky. You will forever be my person.” 

In collaboration with the DREAM Center, SSU will be holding a celebration of life on Thursday, March 3, remembering Diaz as the kind, bright student he was. 

The celebration of life will be held on the third floor of the Student Center in Ballrooms B, C, and D. Participants are encouraged to bring memorabilia to include in a memory book and for those unable to attend in person, a live stream of the event will be available over Zoom.