In Memoriam

They lived and laughed and loved and left – James Joyce

Berkeley, named after the Irish philosopher George Berkeley, will forever remember the seven young adults from Ireland and the U.S., guests in this city, who tragically died after a fifth-floor balcony collapsed at 2020 Kittredge Street early on the morning of June 16, 2015: Cousins Ashley Donohoe of Rohnert Park, CA, and Olivia Burke of Dublin, Ireland; Eoghan Culligan, Lorcan Miller, Niccolai “Nick” Schuster, and Eimear Walsh, all of Dublin, Ireland; and Aoife Beary, also from Dublin, who died in 2022 as a result of injuries sustained in the collapse.

Here, the families of those who died and the community of Berkeley joined hands to establish a permanent memorial. These strawberry trees were planted on October 28, 2015, as a living remembrance in the presence of Michael Higgins, President of Ireland. A predecessor of this plaque was placed in June 2018.

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine

berkeleyplaques.org