Gabriel Zimmerman, an ASU graduate and aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was laid to rest Monday after being killed in the Jan. 8 shooting in Tucson.
Zimmerman, who earned a master’s degree in social work in 2006 from the Tucson component of ASU’s College of Public Programs, was remembered by his father and former professor as someone who cared deeply about helping others.
Zimmerman, 30, was one of six victims killed in the shooting that injured 13 others, including Giffords.
Josefina Ahumada, field education coordinator at ASU’s College of Public Programs and one of Zimmerman’s former professors, was someone who helped him develop a love and commitment for social work, said Zimmerman’s father Ross Zimmerman.
“She made a big impression on him,” Ross Zimmerman said. “It prepared him for the work he did for Congresswoman Giffords.”
Ahumada considered Gabriel Zimmerman not only a student but also a colleague and dear friend.
“He always made you feel as if you were the only one in the room when he was talking to you,” Ahumada said.
The professor said she remembers Zimmerman as a remarkably unique young student in her “Social Work with Latinos” course.
When Ahumada asked graduate-level Zimmerman what he wanted to do in life, his response was earnest and simple: make a difference.
“Usually the professor is the mentor, but in some ways Gabe as a student was a mentor,” Ahumada said. “He reminded you of the passion of why we go into social work.”
After graduation, Ahumada regularly invited Zimmerman to speak to new students about his passion for social service and his work at the congressional office, where he inspired many.
“Everybody keeps telling me it’s unimaginable,” said Zimmerman’s father Ross Zimmerman on dealing with his son’s death. “They’re right.”
Ross Zimmerman had previously discussed with his son how difficult it would be for any parent to live on after a child had died — something that became reality for him and his wife Emily Notingham.
“It was a horrible and ironic way,” Ross Zimmerman said, referring to the way his son was killed.
Zimmerman was Giffords’ community outreach director and helped organize the event at the Tucson Safeway where the shooting took place.
It was Zimmerman’s job to make sure Giffords, a Democrat from Tucson, heard all her constituents’ voices. With his genuine care for people, this job came easy to him, Ross Zimmerman said.
“He was so much more patient that I,” Ross Zimmerman said. “My patience comes and goes, but Gabe, he was relentlessly patient.”
Ross Zimmerman suspects that his son was doing what he was usually doing, connecting with people, when “things went bad” that Saturday morning in Tucson.
Ross Zimmerman said he imagined Zimmerman was working within the line of constituents, conversing with them and listening to what they had to say and taking down their information.
“His job was to make the event go smoothly,” Ross Zimmerman said.
Ross Zimmerman said he remembered when Gabriel was a little boy he possessed an unusual knack for connecting with people.
“It only got better as he got older,” Ross Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman turned his gift of connecting with people into a career dedicated to social work, where he lived every day making sure voices were heard.
“Talking to one of his interns from a few years back, he said that Gabe was like a big brother,” Ahumada said. “I think Gabe had that effect on everyone.”
He was a real brother to Ben Zimmerman, who is currently living in the Boston area pursuing his second master’s degree.
“Ben’s having a tough time,” Ross Zimmerman said. “They were very close, even for brothers. They were very good friends.”
Gabriel also leaves behind Kelly O’Brien, his fiancée from Yuma.
Ross Zimmerman said that after he heard about Gabriel’s death, he wanted to quickly live out his life so he could die too. For a while, Ross Zimmerman felt as though nothing mattered anymore.
“But things do matter,” he said. “It matters because of his little brother, who I love very much. Kelly matters, his fiancée, who I love very much. I want them to have the best in the world.”
As for Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old suspected gunman, Ross Zimmerman said he has been forgiven.
“We aren’t mad at that poor, sick child.” Ross Zimmerman said. “Gabriel wouldn’t be mad at that poor, sick child.”
Zimmerman wanted people to treat each other with kindness and to take care of one another, Ross Zimmerman said.
“A lot of us are finding that’s what we now want to do,” Ross Zimmerman said. “Knowing Gabe made you a better person.”
Ross Zimmerman said he believes there is too much discussion of what caused this tragedy and not enough discussion of the wonderful people who passed.
“Bullets don’t know who the good people are,” Ross Zimmerman said.
The inspiring life of Gabriel Zimmerman is only one of six taken away that morning in Tucson.
The other victims include John Roll, a federal judge appointed by President George H. W. Bush; Dorothy Morris, a retired secretary celebrating 50 years of marriage; Phyllis Schneck, a great-grandmother and, according to some, a legendary baker; 76-year-old Dorwin Stoddard, who shielded his wife during the shooting; and Christina-Taylor Green, a 9-year-old girl born on Sept. 11, 2001.
Reach the reporter at ktenagli@asu.edu.
