Grad student's death shocks co-workers

Social psychology graduate student Gordon E. Kato was found dead Tuesday, said Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Daniel Carnes. Police could not provide a cause of death or other details.\nKato was 41, according to an e-mail from Heather M. Winne of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.\nJim Sherman, professor of psychological and brain sciences and Kato's faculty adviser, worked closely with Kato on research projects and said Kato didn't show up to work Monday.\nSherman said Kato's absence was not too unusual because Kato had no professional obligations on Mondays. However, he began to worry when Kato, who is a teaching assistant, didn't show up to teach his Tuesday afternoon class. \n"I know Gordon, and he's very responsible, and he's very reliable," Sherman said. "He wouldn't just miss these things without telling people."\nTwo graduate students drove to his house Tuesday. When no one answered, they called the police, Sherman said. Police found Kato dead in his home, Sherman said. \nKato, who was originally from Hawaii, was a third-year graduate student in social psychology, Sherman said. Kato's mother still lives in Hawaii, he said. \nSherman helped get Kato acquainted with IU and learned they were interested in similar research work. He said Kato previously had his own publishing company in New York City for a few years. When he arrived at IU, he immediately made friends.\n"He was older than most grad students," Sherman said. "He was in a different stage of life, but he fit right in."\nDrew Hendrickson, one of Kato's best friends and another graduate student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, said Kato was hoping to go back to Hawaii and teach at a university there after getting his degree at IU. But at the same time, Kato was happy with what was going on currently.\n"Gordon was the kind of person who was enjoying what he was doing right now," Hendrickson said. "He wasn't all consumed with that was down the road, which I think too many grad students get (caught) up in."\nFellow grad student Elise Percy Hall recalled one of her favorite memories of how Kato used his unique humor to calm her nerves just before she gave a speech. He sang the song "Muskrat Love," which sent them into minutes of laughter, she said.\n"And he just knew exactly how to make someone else laugh even when they are nervous and calm them down," she said. "I'll just always remember how he was willing to give of himself and not take himself seriously in order to help someone else feel better."\nJohn Petrocelli, co-teaching assistant in a statistics in psychology course, said he had received e-mails from Kato's students throughout the day after they heard the news.\n"Everybody that knew Gordon loved Gordon, I can tell you that," Petrocelli said. "He's just a wonderful guy, a giving guy. He always had a great sense of humor -- he could give anyone a laugh about anything probably."\nStudents respected Kato, Hall said, but most of all, other graduate students recognized his humility.\n"He was one of the most humble people I've ever met," Percy Hall said. "We're all crushed. We loved him very, very much"