First-year MBA student dies

Goran Butina, 27, a first-year MBA student in the business school, died Sunday, Aug. 27, of cardiac disrhythmia at Emory Hospital where he was taken after he collasped while playing racquetball with friends at the P.E. Center. Butina arrived at Emory on Aug. 17 from Slovenia, part of the former Yugoslavia, and was sponsored by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX). He lived in University Apartments.

Butina was one of the first two Solvenian students enrolled in the business school's daytime MBA program. In the class Goran entered, 21 percent of the students are international; the day-time MBA student body includes participants from 29 countries.

"Goran was an outstanding example of how much value can be added by bringing different cultures and perspectives into the program", said Nancy Roth Remington, the business school's director of International Programs. "He made a deep impression in a very short period of time. His death leaves a real void in the class." While his friends were struck by Goran's humor and outgoing personality, his faculty had already remarked on his class contributions.

The Emory community joined together in a celebration of Goran's life on Sept. 1 in Cannon Chapel.