A Colorado State University graduate student, and son of a well-known Casper physician, died Wednesday from injuries sustained in a lightning strike at the campus, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Psychology graduate student Marc Richard, 33, who had been in critical condition since the July 24 strike, died at Poudre Valley Hospital.

He was the son of obstetrics/gynecologist Dr. Jack V. and Ann Richard of Casper.

The same lightning bolt immediately killed fellow psychology grad student Will Szlemko. Friends said the two likely were practicing martial arts under the trees when an intense thunderstorm passed through, according to the newspaper.

Richard

"He was just a really wonderful guy, very sincere, a nice guy, easy to talk to, very respectful. He was a great student, a brilliant student, very, very thoughtful," said Matt Malcolm, an assistant professor of occupational therapy at CSU and one of Richard's advisers.

Richard's area of research was how humans learn motor skills and marksmanship.

Anne Hudgens, CSU's dean of students, said the death of both men, along with the death last week of undergraduate journalism administrator Rebecca Allen, has hit the university hard.

Allen was killed when a suspected drunken driver rear-ended her bike.

Colorado ranks third nationally and first among Western states in lightning fatalities with an average of three annually. Larimer County has had 51 reported lightning injuries during the past 26 years.

Memorial services for Richard have not yet been scheduled. Szlemko was remembered by friends, family and the CSU community at a service Tuesday night.

The tree under which the two men were standing has become a memorial site, scattered with rose petals, flowers and ribbons.

A twisting spiral in the tree's bark marks where the lightning bolt wound down to the ground.

was resuscitated at the scene, but his condition never improved. Following his death, which several CSU officials say they had expected, his organs were removed for donation.

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