Dustin Michael Bauer, a senior at Mount St. Mary's University and an avid runner, died Wednesday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center of injuries suffered in a fall at a campus residence hall. The Lutherville resident was 22.
Mr. Bauer was born in Baltimore and raised in Parkville and Lutherville. He graduated from Calvert Hall College High School in 2004 and enrolled at Mount St. Mary's, where he was a double major in criminal justice and sociology. He was set to graduate in May.
Friends and family said his passion was running. Though he only began to focus on it in high school, he quickly excelled and was named to The Sun's All-Baltimore City/County team and the All-MIAA team. "Run in front, stay in front," was his motto, which he would say to his father before every race.
In 2004, he won the 5-kilometer leg of the Race for the Cure as an 18-year-old, with a time of just less than 16 minutes.
"I'm happy with my time, but I'm here for the race and the cause," he was quoted as saying in a Sun article.
More recently, he won the Run to Cooperstown 5K race last summer in Aberdeen and got to meet Cal Ripken Jr.
"It was the coolest thing ever - he whooped up pretty good on everybody and had a nice little picture with Cal," said brother DeWitt Bauer Jr. of Towson. "[Mr. Ripken] said Dustin was a true Ironman for the day."
Alex Thomas, who played recreational league lacrosse and attended Calvert Hall with Mr. Bauer, said his friend was a "great runner who loved what he did."
"He loved life. It was evident," said Mr. Thomas, a senior at Washington College. "His laughter was infectious. He brought so much joy to so many lives. The world is truly worse off without him."
Family was particularly important to Mr. Bauer, according to his brother. He came home almost every weekend from school in Emmitsburg to be with his parents. He enjoyed traveling and had recently visited Italy to see his girlfriend, Ashley Hutchinson.
"He was really just an easygoing guy, and he tried his best to make other people happy," his brother said.
At Mount St. Mary's, Mr. Bauer competed on the school's track team and was a member of the Mount Maniacs, a student cheering squad for the basketball team. He died on the evening that the team defeated Sacred Heart in Fairfield, Conn., to win the Northeast Conference basketball tournament, a victory that gave the 2,100-student university its first NCAA tournament berth since 1999.
Students who made the trip to Connecticut held up signs urging the Mountaineers to "Win it for Dustin." Others flashed the message: "D.B. Never Forgotten."
"I think the players knew he was on the bench with them," said a school spokeswoman.
Mr. Bauer was critically injured March 9 when he apparently leaned too far over a railing and fell 10 feet to the tile floor of a stairwell. He was taken off life support Wednesday evening.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Immaculate Conception Church, 200 Ware Ave. in Towson.
In addition to his brother, survivors include his parents, DeWitt and Kathleen Bauer of Lutherville; and his grandparents, Irvin Bauer Jr. and Rita Lochte Bauer of Towson, and Edward and Jacqueline Watts of Perry Hall.
justin.fenton@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Jonathan Bor contributed to this article.