Henry Acejo, who taught at San Diego State and other San Diego colleges, was murdered last month.
On the night of Dec. 18 at approximately 11 p.m., Acejo, 45, was stabbed to death in his apartment. Police officials said they have not found a motive for his assassination nor a single suspect.
His death came as a shock to the community that loved him. A teacher who cared significantly for his students, Acejo’s sudden death left behind many concerned colleagues, students and friends. Still, his life is being celebrated by those who knew him.
Acejo came to the U.S. in the mid ‘90s and by 2001 he was teaching math at a local middle school called St. Rita’s. It was not until 2004 that Acejo came to SDSU, starting the Filipino Program and later becoming the co-adviser. Acejo also taught Filipino at UC San Diego and English as a second language at Southwestern College and Mid-City Community College.
“Henry was a well-loved and very popular instructor, and people are shocked that he’s gone, and especially that he died in this particular way,” a colleague of Acejo’s, Ghada Osman, said. “The Facebook page in his memory, ‘Celebrating the Life of Professor Henry Acejo,’ provides a slight glimpse into how people viewed him.”
On the Facebook page, people can post messages or memories of Acejo. The testimonials range from shocked students in disbelief, to frustrated voices alleging against injustices, to peaceful messages of empathizing thoughts and feelings.
A friend of Acejo and an SDSU professor, Atilio Alicio, said he was living south of the border because of the inexpensive rent, which allowed him to send at least $1,000 per month to his family back in the Philippines. He also said Acejo was planning on visiting his family for the holidays. Instead, a few days after the incident, three of Acejo’s 11 siblings arrived at Tijuana.
In between many papers in his now unoccupied apartment, one of Acejo’s siblings found an envelope. Inside, there was a note declaring authority to process on behalf of his family in the Philippines any type of insurance in case of an accident that might have resulted in Acejo’s incapacitation or death. The note was addressed to Alicio. It was written on Dec. 18, 2006, exactly four years before Acejo’s murder, a coincidence that has left Alicio in shock.
“(He) was the youngest of many siblings. I considered him my kid brother,” Alicio said.
At one point the two were colleagues at both SDSU and UCSD. Alicio remembered him as “wonderful, enthusiastic and overwhelmingly generous.”
