Cpl. Justin Owen, a first-year graduate student in Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, died on Christmas Day in his Evanston residence.
The cause of death was suicide, according to a representative at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. The 24-year-old was born in Chicago and lived in Whitefish Bay, Wis.
Owen was a reservist in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq for one tour of combat duty in 2007 as a member of Fox Company of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment.
While deployed, Justin’s company of reservists primarily operated checkpoints and provided medical care to citizens, said Owen’s father, Tom. He said Justin became relatively fluent in Arabic while in Iraq, which helped him communicate with Iraqi women and children needing health care as well as train Iraqi police forces.
Tom Owen said there was “some evidence” that his son may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a trauma-related anxiety disorder affecting an estimated 11 to 20 percent of U.S. veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the National Center for PTSD. However, Tom Owen said the family was not sure if his son was suffering from PTSD and did not notice any significant changes in him upon his return from Iraq.
Justin Owen reportedly received news of his deployment while a sophomore at Marquette University, a school he transferred to after attending Norwich University in Northfield, Vt. for two years.
“I’m looking to fight for an adventure,” he reportedly told The Marquette Tribune in 2007 after hearing of his deployment.
Justin Owen was “driven to be a Marine” throughout his middle and high school years, when he became interested in history, philosophy and military studies, his father said.
“He knew his calling was to be a Marine,” Tom said. “Why a Marine? Because they were the tough ones, and that’s where he wanted to be: out in front.”
At the end of his tour in 2008, Justin Owen returned to Marquette’s Diederich College of Communication, later graduating cum laude in journalism.
“His idea was to take his military experience and training and his journalistic nature and education and travel the world,” Tom said. “He wanted to go to hot spots and report.”
John Lavine, Medill’s dean, sent an e-mail Dec. 29 announcing the death to the Medill community. In an interview, Lavine said those who knew Justin Owen speak of him as a good student whose involvement and performance were increasing over the course of Fall Quarter, his first at NU.
The offices of Counseling and Psychological Services on the Evanston and Chicago campuses have been notified of Justin’s death, Lavine said, and plan to meet with Medill’s graduate students Tuesday.
“We need to hold (his family) together and comfort each other,” he said. “The people at CAPS I talked to said, ‘We’re here for you, but it’s also true that his classmates, faculty and staff can do a lot for each other by being supportive and aware,’ and we sure want to do that.”
The Owens have established The Justin Owen Memorial Fund in his memory, which will likely provide financial assistance to graduate students in Medill. There will also likely be a memorial service at NU during Winter Quarter, Tom said.
“We’d love to do anything that brings comfort to the family,” Lavine said.
Justin Owen was buried with full military honors in Milwaukee on Dec. 30, a service attended by several Medill faculty and students, Tom Owen said. He is survived by his father; his mother, Rebecca; and two brothers, Nicholas, 27, and Thomas John, 22.
His father said Justin Owen, who loved education, would have liked to do what he could for Medill’s graduate program, a place he said his son was beginning to love.
“Justin’s probably the kindest person anyone would want to meet, regardless of his 6-foot-1, stare-you-in-the-eye Marine glare,” he said. “He was kind-hearted and a super good kid.”
