The Current

Issue date: 12/5/06 Section: News

Brian Schlittler, 25, died in a fire at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house on Wednesday morning.

Media Credit: Mike Sherwin Kevin Bowen, senior, business administration, looks at the memorial for Brian Schlittler set up on Wednesday morning after the fatal fire at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. Bowen and Schlittler were fraternity brothers.

Nearly one week later, snow has fallen on the burned wreckage of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. On the lawn out front, wreaths and photographs are a reminder of the tragic fire that killed fraternity member Brian Schlittler.

Big-hearted. Loving. Teddy bear. Generous, selfless and caring. These were all words that were heard over and over in the voices of friends and family when asked to describe Schlittler, who died in the fire Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Schlittler, 25, was a native of St. Louis. He graduated from Parkway South high school in 1999 was in his senior year at UM-St. Louis, studying secondary education.

"He was just a teddy bear," said Brian's sister, Erin Schlittler, senior, special education.

"You'd think he was a big scary guy. But you'd approach him and he was just a nice and loving guy.
She said Brian was always excited when it got close to the holidays.

"My brother was a very giving person and he used to absolutely love Christmas. He would give anybody anything," she said.

When they were kids, "he would always wake me up so we could get everything ready so when my parents got up, we could open the presents right away," she said.

"He was the best brother you could ask for," Erin said. "And I'm going to miss him."

Clayton Zoellner, senior, secondary education, recruited Brian into the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

"We were both secondary education majors with an emphasis in history. I had a class with him and that's where I met him and recruited him," Zoellner said.

"He was the one guy I always bragged about recruiting," he said. "He was the most selfless person I know."

Chris Mabie, senior, criminology, said Schlittler "was one of those guys who would go above and beyond just to help you out."

"Even on the day he died, I had just bought a [Xbox] 360 and I wanted to borrow a game. He had just bought the game, but he let me borrow it and went and rented a game so I could have the other game to play," Mabie said.

"Earth lost a special person. If there were more people like Big Brian, there'd be a lot less hate, anger and jealousy in this world," Mabie said.

Sigma Pi member Bryan Goers, junior, secondary education, recalled meeting Schlittler. "He was a little scary at first. He was a big guy, with a big 'Pikes' shirt on. He could have been really intimidating, but he just would come up and shake your hand. It didn't matter if you were a Pike, a Sig Tau or a Sig Pi, or not in a fraternity."

Goers shared a Wednesday morning class with Schlittler. "Usually he sits next to me but he wasn't there," Goers said. The realization that his friend was gone became all too clear when the teacher, who still didn't know who died in the fire, called out Brian's name to return a paper. "It just became too much and I had to leave," he said.

Pi Kappa Alpha member Nick Koechig, senior, political science, said Schlittler had been a major source of support. "There were times where I would call Brian and he talked me through some of my hardest times."

"The fact that he was always there for me and that I wasn't there for Brian in his time of need just tears me up inside," he said.

The Schlittler family hopes to continue the tradition of giving that Schlittler began, by setting up a memorial fund in his name to get off campus buildings to abide by stricter fire code standards and more frequent inspections.

"The major issue was that they took the batteries out of the smoke detectors in the house," Erin said,

"We want to make sure that everyone knows Brian's story. If we can keep one kid from taking the battery out of a smoke detector…that's our mission."

Koechig said one of most common memories of Schlittler was from the weekly fraternity chapter meetings at the house.

"Since he lived upstairs, and we'd have chapter meetings in the living room. I think about him sitting there looking down on the chapter," Koechig said. "And I think he's doing that right now, too."

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