Brittany McAuley (’12C), a History major at Emory, died in a plane crash on Dec. 17 in northwest Atlanta. She was 23.
McAuley was a passenger in a business jet, which went down after hitting a tree near Bolton Road and I-285, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in December.
The Wheel reported in December that Peter Mallen, 67, was the pilot of the plane. He also died in the crash.
McAuley was born Dec. 17, 1990 and grew up in Long Island, N.Y. She studied History at Emory and, after graduating, spent the next year and a half working at a law firm in Buckhead, according to Will Partin (’13C), a close friend of McAuley’s from her time at Emory.
McAuley’s mother Debra McAuley wrote in an email to the Wheel, “She was loved by many, and her friends all say that no one was a better friend than she was.”
Many friends of McAuley reached out to the Wheel, describing her as a kind-hearted individual with a zest for life.
“Brittany was such a smart and beautiful person,” said Rebecca Zinkiewicz, a childhood friend. Zinkiewicz reminisced about the hours they spent together in McAuley’s basement playing the computer game “The Sims.”
McAuley attended Islip High School in Long Island.
“She was one of the warmest, most considerate students I have ever taught,” her former science teacher Wayne Mennecke wrote in an email to the Wheel.
Mennecke wrote that McAuley organized a baby shower for him and his wife.
“Her enthusiasm was boundless,” Mennecke wrote. “I know teachers aren’t supposed to have ‘favorites’ but over the course of an 18-year career thus far, she was, and probably always will be, near the top of my very exclusive list.”
While at Emory, McAuley was a member of Sigma Delta Tau sorority and took a number of English classes due to her love of reading, Partin said. Partin also fondly recalled McAuley’s love of football; she attended a number of University of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology football games.
One of McAuley’s closest friends and former roommate, second-year student at the Rollins School of Public Health Jennifer Kline, also wrote in an email to the Wheel that McAuley was a true friend and humanitarian who served as a nanny and mentor for a young girl and volunteered at the Atlanta Humane Society. She added that McAuley loved country music and comedy.
Partin remembers McAuley’s gregarious personality and wide social circles.
“She threw some of the most amazing parties I’ve been to in my entire life,” he said.
Partin and McAuley met during their freshman year because they both lived in Harris Hall. Partin said he last saw McAuley the weekend before she died to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Incidentally, she passed away on her birthday.
“Anybody can learn a lesson about loving life from her,” he said.
A family friend, Vicki Anckner, echoed these sentiments in an email to the Wheel.
“[McAuley] was a wonderful girl,” she wrote. “A light has gone out of our lives forever.”
Anckner said McAuley’s funeral services were held in Long Island.
–By Rupsha Basu
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
