An early morning car accident over winter break claimed the life of Arts & Sciences freshman Benjamin Coady.

Coady, 18, of Allouez in Green Bay, was traveling south on Interstate 43 Friday, Jan. 2 at 12:33 a.m. when his 1996 Jeep Cherokee went off the road at County Road NN in nearby Glenmore, which is about 100 miles from Milwaukee. The vehicle then struck a guardrail, according Brown County Sheriff's Lt. Keith Barth. He said Coady, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the vehicle.

Speed and an undetermined amount of alcohol, determined from a quick draw sample, were also cited as factors in the accident, Barth said.

The fatal accident was one of 21 traffic fatalities that occurred in Wisconsin within the first week of 2004.

Family and friends remember Coady, a 2003 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Green Bay, as a caring and giving person who loved sports, the outdoors and Marquette.

Coady's father, Joe, of Howards Grove, said his son was always a good friend, and was sometimes called "gentle Ben."

"Ben was very kind," said Coady's mother Deb, of Allouez. "He always had the ability to make people smile."

Deb Coady described her son as a "very sensitive, warm young man," and said she has received cards from people who reiterate those characteristics. Deb Coady said she received a card from a boy with whom he attended high school. The boy told her how Benjamin had helped him build up his self-confidence and made him feel like a big person despite being small in stature.

Some of Coady's high school friends also attend Marquette.

Freshman Shawn Boknevitz, Coady's roommate, had known Coady since they went to daycare together. Boknevitz said Coady had "the biggest heart" and a good sense of humor.

"Ben was my best friend," Boknevitz said. "He was the most down-to-earth person that I have met so far. He was a funny guy, but not at the expense of others."

Coady's distinctive laugh is one of the attributes freshman Aaron Thiry, also a high school friend of Coady's, will miss most about his friend.

"His laugh was unmistakably his own," Thiry said.

"He was a teddy bear," said freshman Karl Poehls, who has known Coady since the first grade. Poehls said Coady was "really easygoing and fun to be around."

Coady also loved to wear pajama pants, according to his father.

"He wore them everywhere he went," Joe Coady said. "He was known as 'the pajama pants guy.'"

While in high school, Coady was a member of the junior varsity and varsity tennis teams and the freshman football team. Family and friends say he carried his passion for sports into college, playing basketball at the Rec Plex regularly.

Coady also had a love for Marquette.

Joe Coady said his son was excited to be at Marquette, and enjoyed attending school in Milwaukee because it was his first time being in a big city.

"That was the dream of his life when he got there," he said. He was "so proud of Marquette."

Deb Coady said despite receiving offers to attend other colleges, her son insisted on going to Marquette.

Coady has two brothers, Nicholas and Joshua, and several other relatives.

At the time of publication, no memorial services have been planned for Coady, according to University Ministry.