Brian and David Marshall, students in Counselor Education, killed
David and Brian Marshall, two brothers who were studying in the Counselor Education department and preparing to launch a sports psychology consulting business, died Aug. 12 in a traffic accident in Virginia.
Professor Harry Daniels, chair of the Counselor Education department addresses a crowd of more than 100 at the Sept. 1 memorial for Brian and David Marshall.
“To lose them both has been a shock,” said Harry Daniels, chair of the Counselor Education department. “They were a vital part of both the social and the academic life of this department.”
David, 39, and Brian, 31, grew up in Gloucester, Mass. Both brothers were avid sports fans, and were involved in competitive shooting. Both brothers pursued their undergraduate degrees at Eastern New Mexico University – a college that attracted them in large part because of its shooting teams.
For David, the elder brother, the love of shooting grew into a fascination with sports psychology. He pursued a Master’s degree in experimental psychology before coming to UF as a doctoral student. Here, he used his counselor education expertise to create an undergraduate course in “principles of personal excellence.”
Brian came to UF to study exercise science, but switched to counselor education when the brothers began planning the creation of the Florida Center for Performance Excellence, a sports psychology consulting business.
Mike Marshall talks about his brothers at a memorial service Sept. 1 in the Norman Hall courtyard.
The brothers planned to base their business in Gainesville, and had bought a home here. They were preparing their mother’s Gloucester home for sale, so she, too, could live in Gainesville. The Marshalls were on their way to Gainesville from Gloucester when the accident occurred.
Daniels said the brothers played a vital role in the social network of the Counselor Education department, and were always willing to cook, paint or do other work to support any of the many public-spirited projects informally organized by their fellow students. For instance, when students were trying to raise pledges for a recent Walk for Cancer event, David Marshall – who had been wearing his hair long for years – agreed to trim it short if faculty and students would raise $1,500 for the cause. They raised a total of $2,500.
“Both of them were the kind of people who believed they could accomplish anything, and they did accomplish much,” Daniels said. “They will be sorely missed.”
