Graduation turned out to be a bitter-sweet moment for HBS’ Class of 2012. On one hand, they were ready to take over the world. But, on the other, they had to deal with the sudden and untimely demise of a fellow classmate Nate Bihlmaier a couple of days before Graduation Day.

From the various account available, Nate was an extremely giving soul. Worse still, Nate’s wife Nancy was pregnant with their first child, the news of which they were going to break to the parents at Graduation. We join the entire community at HBS in grieving this loss and we wish Nancy and Nate’s family and friends, the courage to deal with this difficult situation.

It was heartening to see how the Class of 2012 presented a united front by wearing lapels bearing Nate’s initials. Furthermore, it is also great to see Sheryl Sandberg acknowledging and empathizing with the class in this loss.

You can see the speech given by Sheryl Sandberg (in the week following Facebook’s IPO) here: