Remembering Andrew Ameer
BY: ASHLEY BIUNDO
Editor-In-Chief
PRINT DESIGN BY: JASON WATERS AND DALILA KAHVEDZIC
Guest Contributors
On Sept. 28, 2020, Meramec Alumnus Andrew Ameer, 27, lost his life when he was shot during a carjacking while working as a Lyft driver.
Andrew Ameer was born on Jan. 30, 1993 in Florissant, Missouri. He was the second of eight children. He was homeschooled up until college and received his GED at 18. In 2016, Ameer attended St. Louis Community College- Meramec, where he worked as an editor for The Montage and in 2017 received an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science of Business Administration. After that, Ameer moved on to University of Missouri- St. Louis where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree of Science in Business Administration Cum Laude. He planned to receive his PhD.
As long as Ameer could remember, he loved to travel. He loved visiting new places and gaining new experiences. From traveling all over the United States to all over the world, Ameer gained a new strive for life. In an article he wrote for The Montage, he said, “During my time overseas, I adopted a great resilience to adversity that I took back with me to the US. It’s probably the single most significant thing I’ve gained during my travels… seeing how other people in different cultures and countries adapt to hardship and change brought great perspective to my own life and how I reacted to moments of adversity.”
Ameer loved his family and enjoyed spending time with them. While his mother, Rochelle, worked as an RN, Ameer worked three jobs to help support his family. He was very hardworking. He loved life and everyone in it. Ameer gave people around him a new way of life, being so kind and heartwarming to everyone he met. He had so much life ahead of him and was taken from Earth too soon.
“Everyone who met Andrew Dare Ameer knows his kind heart… he consistently visited his Great Grandmother (Virginia Darris) during her last few months. It seemed that he did not have a mean bone in his body…and was always very respectful to everyone he encountered,” said Fredrick Darris, Ameer’s uncle.
He joined his brother, Saabir Ameer, his father Irshaad Ameer, grandfather Walter L. Darris, and great-grandmother, Virginia Darris in death. Ameer is survived by his mother, Rochelle Ameer, his siblings, Rashaad, Ibrahim, Ashley, Aanisah, Fadylah, Adara and Mahdiya; his niece, Amaya, grandparents, Cornelius and Mary, Raymond and Roseann, his great uncle, Fred; uncle, Fred, aunst, Shonda, Jaci, Renee and Gabriela, and cousins, Adriana, Marcela, Jordan, Elizabeth, James, Finnian, Lucy, Lydia, Flannery, and Adele.
Memories of Andrew:
“He had his diploma mailed to my address. I guess to make sure it was safe. I told him it was there and he picked it up. I periodically would ask him about seeing it. He would avoid the question. I think he was waiting for a special moment to open his diploma that he worked very hard for.
After he passed away, I had been sorting through his things and found the envelope. He never opened the envelope. He never saw his Bachelor’s degree. I opened it. It is in a frame hanging on my wall now. I also found a notebook with lists of goals that he was checking off. It’s been interesting. He had a lot of them checked off but he was stopped too soon. He needed to finish his list.
His father, my husband, passed away 3 years ago. I still have to finish going through his things. He has a lot more since he lived longer than Andrew. Andrew was helping me with that but now he’s gone. So I think I’ll work on Andrew’s for now he has less and I’m more interested in what he has experienced that I don’t know about yet.”
– Rochelle Ameer, Andrew’s mother
“You could talk to him about anything because he was such a calm, down to earth dude. Always so professional with everything he did.”
– Sam Roy, colleague
“Our Montage team was fortunate enough to spend a few days in Atlanta to learn more about journalism. In the evening, we had some spare time and I remember we were all hanging out on the balcony. I wish I could remember what we were talking about, but all I can remember is that Andrew said something that showed his deep thinking – I think it was some odd relationship advice. However, I remember being impressed that he was only in his twenties because he seemed wise beyond his years.”
– Marie-Josephine Schwarz, colleague
“Some special moments that I remember was during one of Andrew’s trip out, he drove us to the Grand Canyon and we got an opportunity to see a sun set over the Grand Canyon. He took pictures and videos just at the exact second that the sun was setting.
I called and asked Andrew if he would help me manage a building that I still owned back in St. Louis, and he answered immediately saying that he would be happy to do it for me. He went by checking on the building, cutting the grass, and doing odds jobs as needed. If there were jobs that he needed help with, he was willing to work with the handyman. Andrew will truly be missed. If I close my eyes, I can hear his voice and how he used to say “Hi, Grandma” to me.”
– Mary Darris-Maclin, Andrew’s grandmother
“I’ll never forget one of my favorite memories of Andrew; we were all in the newsroom waiting to start a meeting and he walked in in a full suit and tie. Everyone in the room was so taken aback that it was pure silence for a moment, and then we all just started clapping. He was always dressed for success and ready to tackle the day.
Andrew and I were both in the process of a mental toughness program called 75 Hard that is designed to improve your quality of life by exercising self-control. This just goes to show that Andrew always strived to live up to his full potential. He had this unbelievable desire and passion for life and he wasn’t going to fall short of being his absolute best self. Andrew was always the light on a dreary day.”
– Dalila Kahvedzic, colleague
“There was never a more hardworking or loving person alive than Andrew. He was a man that was humble and sincere to everyone who surrounded him. I never heard him once say he couldn’t do something. He had the will to push himself above and beyond. To see such a kind-hearted soul leave too soon is heartbreaking.”
– Jordan Morris, colleague
“Unlike his Favorite Uncle…he did not boast & brag about his accomplishments. He was waiting for a special occasion to open his degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He was traveling the world and had many experiences but he was not telling you all about them in your first conversation. Andrew was his own man… he only did things that he truly wanted to do. Once he set his mind to something, there was no stopping him.”
– Fredrick Darris, Andrew’s uncle
“Andrew never planned to be a journalist, but Montage adviser Shannon Sanders and I convinced him he would make a great editor. He had a sense of authority that people respected. He was smart, articulate and made new writers feel welcome. He possessed a level of “chill” I could never hope to reach and added stability to our rag-tag operation.
We became friends quickly, bonding over the stress, excitement and absurdity we experienced while running a student newspaper. Andrew and I liked to attend shows or find cool events around St. Louis. One of my favorite memories of him is when we went to my first (and last!) metal show on Cherokee Street. A mosh pit broke out halfway through the concert and people became violent quickly. I made eye contact with another woman and, within seconds, someone knocked her to the ground. I saw her at the end of the show with a golf-ball sized bump on her head. Andrew saw her go down, too. He grabbed me, shoved everyone out of our way and ran with me out of the chaos.
Time and again, Andrew was a protector in my stories. Everyone felt safe with Andrew, because if any of us started getting into trouble, he pulled us out of it. We called him our “bodyguard.”
– Katie Hayes, colleague
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