Crime & Safety
UMass Boston Student Dies On School Trip To Ecuador
Fatima Breton, a graduate student, died July 15, after a medical emergency while on a hike in Ecuador.
BOSTON, MA — A University of Massachusetts Boston graduate student died Sunday during a school-sponsored trip to Ecuador, the school announced.
Fatima Z. Breton, 57, a graduate student of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, died during the trip, according to a letter sent to the university community by the Dean of Students Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
Breton had been an employee of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for years until June when she left to pursue graduate study at UMB.
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Fatima first came to the office in 2003 as a member of our support staff before becoming a victim-witness advocate, first in Dorchester and then in the Child Protection Unit. She left the office to further help victims through the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office and the Criminal History Systems Board, but returned in 2013 to serve as our Legislative Liaison with a particular focus on community engagement, according to a note District Attorney Dan Conley sent to staff Tuesday.
Fatima left the office just last month to pursue graduate study through the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston. She was hiking on a school-sponsored trip in Ecuador when she suffered what appears to have been a medical emergency and passed away on Sunday night, he said.
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"As so many of us do, Fatima built countless friendships with her colleagues here during her time with the office. Her years of public service made a lasting difference in the lives of crime victims, survivors and the communities we are privileged to serve. She will be deeply missed here and elsewhere, but most of all by her family," said Conley.
She leaves behind three children, David, Cecilia and Camyle.
Friends took to Facebook to express their shock and sadness at the news,
"Everyone who had the privilege of knowing Fatima can testify to her greatness as a human being and legacy of work in and in favour of the community," posted someone from the Merenguere Restaurant, a Spanish Restaurant on Blue Hill Ave.
Breton got her Bachelor's of Science in Management from UMass in 2004.
Photo up top by Jenna Fisher/Patch
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