BOSTON – The staff and students of Emerson College are mourning the loss of Moses Shumow, an associate professor of journalism, who died on Tuesday morning after being struck by an outbound commuter rail train at the Beverly Depot MBTA station.

According to MBTA Transit Police, Shumow was struck around 8:20 a.m. by a commuter rail train when he was "riding his bicycle through the pedestrian cut-through” near Track 1 at the Beverly Depot.

He was rushed to Beverly Hospital with serious injuries, passing away a short time later. Additional details about the accident have not yet been released.

Saddened by the news, Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton issued a statement to the Berkeley Beacon.

"The college is still ascertaining exactly what happened, but it is an extraordinary loss for the college. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and his children and his friends," Pelton stated.

In a separate statement issued to the college, Pelton informed staff and students of the sad news.

“Moses was passionate about the role of media in vulnerable and marginalized communities, and he was deeply excited to return to Emerson and to engage his students in this important work. The fact that his life and his work were cut short this morning is an unimaginable tragedy,” Pelton wrote.

Shumow joined the Emerson College staff this fall, returning to the college where he was once a student, earning his master’s degree back in 2001.

Prior to his position at the college, Shumow worked at the University of Miami for nearly a decade. The father of three also spent a great deal of his journalism career creating informative documentaries for the History Channel, National Geographic and Discovery.

Following the sad and unexpected news of Shumow's death, many in the community have expressed their fondess for the 42-year-old.

“Moses was very cutting edge but he was also very much a down to earth kind of person. He was very positive. One of the things about Moses was if there was a challenge he would stop and say let’s figure out how we can work with it,” said Journalism Department Chair Janet Kolodzy told CBS Boston. Adding, “He was just a gem."

“I found out while I was in class. So you walk out of class. You find out that your advisor is not going to be with you anymore so I don’t know how to deal with that,” Emerson student Angel Salcedo shared.

Image via Wikimedia Commons / Fletcher6