Photo courtesy of Delta Tau Delta

Sam Farmer came to the UA because he was attracted to its size and the people he hoped to meet here. Two years later, all those that he met are mourning the loss of the young man who "put a smile on everybody's face."

The undecided sophomore died at a party early Sunday when a porch collapsed from the third floor of a Chicago apartment building, crushing dozens of partygoers below.

The accident killed 11 others, including one of Farmer's best friends, and injured at least 57 more, Chicago authorities said.

Farmer, 21, attended the party in the upper-crust Lincoln Park neighborhood with three friends; they took public transportation to be safe, said Farmer's father, Jeremy.

"They were acting responsibly and safely and were in what they thought was a safe environment. And then the balcony collapses for no apparent reason," the elder Farmer told the Arizona Daily Star.

Chicago city officials said Monday afternoon that the owners of the building did not have permits to build the porches, but city inspectors had inspected the property in November and did not find anything wrong with the porches.

Up to 50 people, the majority of whom were in their early 20s, had gathered on the porch, where the keg was reportedly located, before the structure broke loose from the building around 12:30 a.m. When the third-floor porch caved in, it fell and subsequently caused the second and first floor decks to collapse as well, leaving a pile of lumber and bodies at the bottom, according to the city's Office of Emergency Management.

Farmer, who was born in Great Britain and grew up in Chicago, had recently returned home for the summer after completing a presession class. He was interested in studying economics and communication, his father said.

Among those in Tucson who will miss Farmer are his fraternity brothers in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

"Sam was the kind of guy that when he walked into a room, he put a smile on everybody's face," Delta Tau Delta President Jamie MacGeorge said. "He was a real nice guy."

Farmer lived in the fraternity house at 1050 N. Cherry Ave. last year and had planned to do so again next year, MacGeorge said.

Although fraternity members have not yet made any memorial plans for their late brother, many were in Chicago yesterday to be with Farmer's family and attend funeral services there, MacGeorge said.

Farmer is survived by his father; his mother, Gill; and younger brothers Tom and Edward.

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