Another precious life lost to savagery. The period of tension between the Israelis and the Palestinians, known as ‘Knife Intifada’, over the status of Temple Mount, has cost us yet another beating heart – one that was far too young to depart, that of 28-year old Taylor Allen Force – a first-year Vanderbilt MBA student.

The Fatal Attack

March 8, 2016 saw Force’s family, friends and countless others, on whom he had a profound impact, grieve as their beloved was stabbed to death. Force was a first-year MBA student at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. A former Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army, Taylor Force had served in Afghanistan and Iraq and had his eyes firmly set on the future. This is what brought him to the Vanderbilt University – not only to learn the skills needed to be successful in business, but also to build life-long connections and friendships with his fellow students, across the globe.

Taylor, accompanied by 35 others, including Vanderbilt students, faculty and supervisors had embarked on this trip to Jaffa, Tel Aviv during his spring break to “expand his understanding of global entrepreneurship and also to share his insights and knowledge with start-ups in Israel,” said Vanderbilt Chancellor, Nicholas Zeppos in a statement acknowledging Force’s death. Force was stabbed by a 22-year old Palestinian terrorist. Rushed to the hospital immediately, Taylor was pronounced dead on arrival.

Who Was Force?

As a warm and humble person, who had no personal enemies and not one person to speak negatively of him, it was deeply saddening to see him lose his life to an act of violence. Taylor’s friends from Owens fondly remember him as someone who “knew who he was and what he stood for, and wasn’t afraid to express those ideas,” as pointed out by Justin Walters, another first-year at Owens. His carefree attitude and his ability to connect to and influence others, while keeping his humility intact, made it hard for his colleagues to believe that he was a former army man. Force’s passion for service shone through, even at Vanderbilt. He was not your regular, run-of-the-mill uptight former army officer. “He was always having a good time, always wanting people around him to have a good time,” said Leslie Parrish, a first-year at Owens, who lived in the same building as Taylor.

Honoring The Brave

A ceremony to honor Force’s sterling personality was held in the Vanderbilt campus, somber with grief and remembrance. A scholarship was named by Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management to commemorate Taylor’s contributions to both – the university and the country. “This scholarship is designed to support fellow West Point and other academy graduates who, like Taylor, have demonstrated their abilities and commitment to leadership and service. The Taylor Force Memorial Scholarship ensures that the impact he had on us will continue to inspire future generations,” said Chancellor Zeppos. Elaborating on this, Eric Johnson, Ralph Owen Dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management said, “For many years, we have actively recruited veterans of the United States Armed Forces to Owen because of their remarkable leadership, their maturity, and their deep-seated understanding that we can only accomplish greatness by leaving our egos at the door. Taylor was the perfect example of why we value such students so highly.”

So lasting was Taylor’s influence that the Owen family created a GoFundMe to support his family with funeral costs. Setting a goal of $10,000, they raised over 4x as much – $46,525.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter for the family to read at Taylor’s funeral. Israel’s Consul General Eitan Levon and Consul Daniel Agranov, both with the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest, attended the memorial service held at Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, TX to mourn Force’s passing. He was declared an ‘honorary Israeli’ to frame the depth of the human side of the loss due to terrorism. Taylor’s father, Stuart Force was truly overwhelmed by the immense support that his family was receiving during their time of grief, not only from friends but also from strangers who were deeply impacted by Taylor’s life of positivity. It was then when the gravity of his son’s influence hit him.

Johnson asserted that many professors thought Force was exactly the son they would love to have. It was very unfortunate that having served the army for years, Forced died pursuing a civilian life. Nevertheless, his life would be measured not in days, but by the lives of the people he touched; the lives he made better.