Zacharias H. McClendon. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Communications
Friends of Zacharias Herculese McClendon, a first-year MBA student found murdered in December, remember him as a gentleman.
Often seen dressed in a pressed Oxford and tie with a smile on his face, the 25-year-old McClendon was the dictionary definition of a Rebel, according to friends.
Classmate and close friend Will Dunphey said that Zach will be remembered as among the best people he has met.
“He was brilliant, kind, generous and caring,” Dunphey said. “He always went out of his way to help others, whether it was driving to campus at 1 a.m. to help someone finish their finance homework or picking up a friend that was stranded in Memphis and in need of help.”
Dunphey recalled a time he was once thankful for McClendon’s giving spirit.
“My favorite memory with Zach was the time I accidentally locked my keys in my trunk. Because I own a convertible, the car’s safety mechanisms don’t allow you to open the trunk from inside without a key, and I never made a spare,” Dunphey said. “Instead of calling a wrecker, Zach helped me to remove the entire backseat by hand, which allowed him to reach through a narrow opening into the trunk and grab my keys. The whole process took about two hours, and the only thing he jokingly suggested afterwards was that I invest in a spare key as soon as I was able.”
McClendon never met a stranger, Dunphey said.
“He valued every friendship and always treated every person he met with extraordinary kindness, dignity and respect,” Dunphey said.
The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department found the body of McClendon just after 3 a.m. on Dec. 18 after responding to a welfare concern at 20B CR 140, Lafayette County, Miss. Authorities found McClendon’s body with a single gunshot wound. Steven Matthew Wilbanks, 22, of North Carolina, Derick Boone, 23, of Laurel, and Joseph Lyons, 20, of Houston, Texas, were charged with the capital murder of McClendon.
Faculty and staff of the university’s business school fondly remember Zach as a successful and ambitious student.
Ashley Jones, director of Ole Miss MBA Programs, said McClendon was a model member of the MBA class.
“Zach was a strong student,” Jones said. “He was very goal-oriented and sought success.”
Jones said she will remember Zach as a bright, professional student.
“When I first met Zach, I was impressed by his professionalism,” Jones said. “During his campus visit, he showed up in a suit and tie. In fact, I rarely saw him without a tie. Most memorable, he always wore a smile.”
Dunphey said McClendon was one of the smartest people he had ever met.
“He was a 4.0 student, and he loved to learn,” Dunphey said. “He seemed to know everything about everything, and he was extremely hardworking.”
Dunphey said that McClendon will be remembered as rare — an approachable academic.
“One of my favorite stories about Zach is from our MBA classmate Julian Sanchez,” Dunphey said. “He saw Zach teaching an undergraduate chemistry class an hour before our final exam in our MBA finance course. That totally blew our minds, but that’s the kind of person he was.”
Driven, McClendon hoped to pursue a career in medicine.
“Zach’s grand plan was to graduate from med school and open a neurosurgery clinic that he hoped would one day be as famous as the Mayo Clinic,” Dunphey said. “His entire life’s mission was to heal people, and I don’t think there’s a more noble goal on this entire planet.”
While the MBA class continues to plan how they may memorialize McClendon, Dunphey said he has made an effort to live more like his friend.
“Several ideas have been tossed around during the past few weeks, but we haven’t decided on a specific one just yet. We are, however, definitely going to make a DVD to send to Zach’s family that will contain our favorite memories of Zach,” Dunphey said. “I think that the best way to honor Zach is to try and be more like him; he was caring, generous, kind and genuinely loved his life and the people around him. I promised myself that I would try and be more like him, and one day, I hope that I will make him proud.”
Ken Cyree, dean of the Ole Miss business school, said that the business school was saddened to learn of McClendon’s death.
“It truly is quite the tragedy,” Cyree said. “I did have a good bit of interaction with Zach — probably more than the average MBA student. We talked several times about him going to graduate school and the future. Zach was very motivated, very outgoing and very gregarious. I think he would have been quite successful in life.”
Cyree said the business school is organizing memorial efforts, with a focus on the long-term.
According to MBA class social chair Morgan Cox, McClendon was a “one-of-a-kind student.”
“Zach was adamant on bringing the MBA class together,” Cox said, recalling McClendon’s organizing MBA tailgating in the Grove.
“He wanted to do an MBA tent, and the first Saturday he sat in the Grove from 9 a.m. until it was time to set up tent, and when he found out the tent was broken, he brushed it off and bought a tent for the following game,” Cox said. “He and a friend provided food and drinks, and all were welcome. Selfless things like these are what defined Zach; he didn’t do it for any other reason than because he enjoyed it.”
— Grant Beebe
beebe.thedm@gmail.com
