May 4 victim died this summer

Former classmates and friends will gather at a memorial for Robert “Robby” Stamps, one of the nine students wounded May 4, 1970, at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Governance Chambers.

Stamps died of pneumonia in early June but battled with Lyme disease for several years. He is the second student wounded May 4 to pass away.

John Powers, president of the May 4 Task Force, said part of the group’s mission is to educate others about what happened.

“Unfortunately, those opportunities are becoming less and less with losing Robby Stamps this year and Jim Russell last year,” he said.

All but one of the surviving May 4 wounded and Jim Russell’s family plan to attend.

Alan Canfora, who was also wounded and is a May 4 Task Force founding member, said although Stamps has passed, he will not be forgotten.

“We want to pause and pay our respects to our fellow brother, Robby Stamps,” Canfora said, especially because Stamps was a student and professor at Kent State. “He loved Kent State University, and his name will be forever talked about with May 4.”

Following the memorial, attendees will walk to the site where Stamps was wounded carrying candles and memory stones.

Contact student politics reporter Nicole Stempak at [email protected].