Remington Williams (J.D. ’22) was a natural leader and caring human being who accomplished much, driven by a passion for helping others.
Williams, the student representative to the University of Missouri Board of Curators, died in a car accident June 8 on his way to get some food after a night of studying for the bar exam. He was 25 years old and had just graduated from the 性视界传媒 School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and Honor Court.
As student representative to the board of curators, Williams served as the students’ voice to the governing body of the University of Missouri System, which includes 性视界传媒, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He was enrolled in the MBA program at UMSL.
People came from across Missouri, and beyond, for his June 15 funeral at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Kansas City. A reception was held afterward at the 性视界传媒 Student Union. Curator Robin Wenneker and UM System President Mun Choi were among those who spoke at the church service.
“I think Remington would be so pleased that we have come together to support each other. He always had a way of bringing people together. And that makes me smile. Our presence today is a testament to that,” Wenneker said.
She lauded the way he made everyone he encountered feel seen and heard.
“He cherished each of his many relationships, spanning from childhood through high school and on through Georgetown College and stints at two different UM universities. His friends would come in from Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, among other places, to visit him in Missouri because they knew how important they were to him, and he was to them.”
She concluded, “I encourage all of us to do our utmost to live up to the high bar Remington set for kindness, compassion and striving to be our best selves. In doing so we pay tribute to the amazing life Remington led and the amazing life that was ahead of him.”
Choi shared a message from Gov. Mike Parson: “Remington was a great young man and impressive leader who was taken far too soon. We thank him for his service to his peers, the UM System Board of Curators and the State of Missouri,” Choi quoted the governor.
In his own remarks, Choi said Williams lived a life dedicated to service.
“His presence made this state, our communities – and each of us – better,” Choi said. “He was a passionate advocate for student interests to the Board of Curators. He was also a trusted advisor who helped advance our mission of service and excellence.”
“What I will remember most is his signature smile. It was always warm and inviting,” Choi said. “He was a student of life, and he kept exploring and expanding his horizons.”
Friends and associates remember him as involved, committed and upbeat, emanating an infectiously positive and optimistic attitude.
“Remington was a true role model who set an example for student leadership in a way that impressed students, faculty and staff,” said 性视界传媒 Chancellor Mauli Agrawal. “He accomplished so much and impacted the lives of so many in his all too brief time with us.” Williams was honored with a moment of silence at the 性视界传媒 Board of Trustees meeting June 13.
Claire Shipp, a 2022 graduate of Mizzou, served as executive director of the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, the student-led organization that advocates for student interests at the state level.
“We were really the only two people with system-wide student leadership roles, and we bonded over that. But we also became great friends outside of that,” Shipp said. “He was so well put together, so intelligent, but still a real human being. He made sure that everyone was comfortable in whatever spaces he was in.”
Shipp said Williams took his responsibilities as a student leader very seriously.
“He cared about the people that he was in the trenches for. He carried the burdens of all those 75,000 students, but he would overcome those challenges with such grace and still maintain a fun-loving attitude,” she said. “He was the person I would go to, to fill my cup back up and find hope.”
Remington had a lifelong history of taking on leadership roles and taking personal responsibility for making a difference in people’s lives. His mother, Colette Jones, recalled his resolve at the age of about 10 to help turn around the life of a homeless man he encountered on a church mission trip.
Their church youth group would make sandwiches and take them to encampments of homeless people. On one visit, a man known as “Sonny” ran away in fear when the church group stopped by.
Young Remington took off after him.
“Sonny told me later that he finally stopped and turned around, and when he looked into Remy’s eyes, he knew Remy was safe,” Jones said. Sonny stopped, they talked, and that launched a three-year effort by Williams and his family to get Sonny off the streets and into an apartment. Sonny has remained housed ever since, paying rent with Social Security and pension payments that Williams helped him obtain and volunteering on homeless outreach by the Salvation Army. He remains a close friend of the Williams family.
Williams went on to high school at the Pembroke Hill School, where he went on school-sponsored service trips to small villages in Guatemala, doing manual labor such as digging latrines.
“That’s why he got a degree in Spanish as well as business (at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky) – so he could go back there and continue working directly with the villagers,” Jones said. While an undergraduate, he continued to make regular trips to Guatemala, on his own, to work in the poorest villages.
His father, Marty Williams, was his baseball coach and helped ignite Remington’s lifelong love for sports. Marty Williams also guided his son’s path to becoming an Eagle Scout.
Williams’ passion for sports led to an autograph-seeking hobby that he pursued with typical zeal. It eventually evolved into a profitable online business selling autographs to other collectors.
At Georgetown, Remington served as student body president (2017-2018), president of his fraternity (2018-2019) and vice president of the Georgetown Activities Council (2018-2019). Williams also served in various capacities for the men’s basketball team and was an active member of both the Accountability Board and Honor Council.
Each year’s graduating class at Georgetown elects one of their own to be commencement speaker. The class of 2019 chose Williams.
He was also a proud graduate of the National Leadership Conference in Shelby, Michigan.
As much as the limelight shone on him, he always looked to share it freely and widely, friends said.
Curator Michael A. Williams, an attorney, knew Remington Williams as both a student representative and as an aspiring law student.
“Remington was the most dedicated and focused young man I have ever met,” Michael Williams said. “Whenever he was talking to someone, he would make them feel like they were the only person in the room.”
“It was awesome to see someone working so hard, trying to be the best that they could be, and still be committed to helping other people be the best that they could be as well.”
At Board of Curators meetings, Wenneker said, he loved to present examples of the accomplishments of other students from the four universities.
"He brought other people along with him. It was never just about him,” Wenneker said.
Wenneker said it was his commitment to representing the entire student body of the system that led him to enroll in the online MBA program at UMSL in 2021. He believed he would be a better representative by being enrolled in multiple universities.
Wenneker recalled Williams deciding to bring the student government presidents from the four universities, and Shipp, all together for a football game at Mizzou.
“They had so much fun being together. He was so proud of them. They were all undergraduates and he was in law school, so he took on kind of an advisory role with them,” Wenneker said.
Williams was appointed as student representative to the Curators by Gov. Mike Parson in July 2020. The UM System’s Office of General Counsel had recently extended an offer of a fellowship to him for the summer.