By: Nicole Rice
When imagining a person that has every quality you could ever want in a friend, the face of Nathan James Carl Holder (popularly known as Nate Black) comes immediately to mind. On February 23rd 2015, 29 year old Holder passed away suddenly after falling ill on a spring break trip in Cancun, Mexico.
Nate was the founder of Lion’s Den University, an online website targeted toward a student audience. His later work as a London, Ontario club promoter, saw Nate’s social life skyrocket as he made multitudes of friends throughout his career and university experience.
The uproar from Nate’s passing was both touching and incredibly devastating. Hundreds of people began to fill social media with kind words and sentimental stories. After only minutes of reading, those who did not know him began to understand the impact he had on his community.
On Monday evening, Nate’s family members reached out through an online donation page to help raise money toward bringing him home and making funeral arrangements. A message on the donation page stated: “The repatriation process and funeral will cost upwards of $20,000.”
In under an hour, the goal of $20,000 had been reached and the total has risen to close to $40,000 from the nearly 900 people who donated over the span of three days.
The sense of love and care for Nate has been evident over the past few days. Nate was always a friend who was there and he cared for his friends more than anything in the world, constantly insuring everyone surround him was happy. Almost everyone knew of “Nate Black” due to his charismatic personality and infectious love. His kind, welcoming nature made people feel as though he had known them forever.
Nate was always the life of the party while also making sure everyone was comfortable in their surroundings. On his Instagram, he posted a chilling bio saying “I’m here for a good time, not a long time.” Although many may find these words upsetting, the ideals in that quote were most definitely true, as Nate lived life to the fullest.
Nate truly brought the Western University and London Ontario community together, even more so after his passing. On February 24th a Facebook group called “The Nate Network” was created with close to 600 members, allowing people to post photos, stories and comments about Nate and the amazing time they had with him. The “about” section states:
“Nate, we love you. This is your legacy”
There are expected to be hundreds of people gathering for Nathan James Carl Holder’s vigil on February 27th, 2015. The candle-lit ceremony will be held at Victoria Park in London Ontario as the sun sets from 6-8pm. Nate truly impacted many, and his actions have taught us what love and kindness really mean. One can only hope to be half the person Nate was, as his legacy of love continues on forever.
