Thursday, 4:30 PM
Two Gloucester brothers killed in Virginia wreck
By David Abel, Globe Staff
Two brothers driving from their mother’s home in Gloucester to a graduate education program at the University of Florida in Gainesville died in a car crash in Virginia over the weekend, colleagues said today.
David Marshall, 39, and Brian Marshall, 31, apparently lost control of their SUV about 2:30 a.m. on Interstate 95 in southern Virginia, colleagues said. It was not clear yesterday who had been driving.
The brothers, both in the university’s graduate program for counselor education, had gone home to help their mother prepare her house for sale, said Stephanie Sarkis, a close friend who attended their graduate program. She had planned to move to Gainesville to be closer to her sons, Sarkis said.
Their mother, Esther Marshall, could not be reached tonight. Neither state nor local police in Sussex County, Va., returned calls tonight.
A report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch said the brothers died after being ejected from their vehicle after it “ran off the highway and crashed.”
“They were kind, generous, and very dependable,” Sarkis said in a telephone interview. “They were very loyal and very loving.”
She said they once showed up to her house, unsolicited, and helped her and her husband paint their bedroom.
David Marshall was pursuing his doctorate degree and had founded the Florida Center for Performance Excellence, said Professor Harry Daniels, chairman of the counselor education department. He and his brother were in the process of starting a performance consulting business.
Brian Marshall had completed a master’s degree in exercise science and was working toward another degree in the counselor education department, Daniels said, also in a telephone interview.
“What is hard to describe is the impact of the loss of David and Brian on the department,” Daniels said. “These two guys were the heart and soul of the department. If anybody needed anything to be done – to move, painting, cooking, whatever – they were the first two people to chip in. Both were outstanding cooks and outstanding students.”
