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Family, friends, colleagues, and students pay tribute to Moses who died after being hit while cycling near Boston by a commuter train
Staff at Salzburg Global Seminar are devastated to learn of the sudden death of Moses Shumow, a several-time faculty member at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change.
Moses died after being hit while cycling near Boston by a commuter train on the morning of October 22. Transit police are continuing their investigation.
Moses, who recently joined Emerson College's journalism faculty from Florida International University, was a beloved teacher, friend, husband, and father. Moses' keen mind, infectious personality, and warm smile made him a favorite among participants and faculty alike.
He is survived by his wife, Rose, and three children. Two funds have been established to help support the education and other needs of his children.
A service for Moses was held on Sunday, October 27 at the First Baptist Church, in Beverly, Massachusetts, led by the Rev. Julie Flowers and by Rabbi Alison Adler. Faculty from the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, on which Moses served, gathered from across the world to pay tribute to their colleague, joined by Academy co-founders Susan Moeller and Stephen Salyer.
Speaking with Emerson Today, Paul Mihailidis, director of the Salzburg Academy, said, “Moses was my best friend and a colleague. We traveled the world working in communities, collaborating on dynamic pedagogies, research papers, and book projects. He was one of the most dedicated and passionate humans, who lived his work.”
Stephen Salyer, President of Salzburg Global Seminar, said: “Moses was a man as full of love for his family, students, colleagues and friends as anyone I have ever known. It is clear from the stories told during and after Sunday’s service that his spirit will live on through the witness of those who share Moses’ devotion to the power of truthful information to change lives.”
We welcome your contribution of tributes and memories of Moses. With your permission, we would like to include them as part of his obituary as we remember and honor him on our website.
"My memories of Moses are very fond ones, taking me all the way back to the 2016 Media Academy where he passionately spoke against the harmful practices towards our climate. His speech was absolutely inspiring and got everyone actively thinking about how they can help the climate. In the hallways, he always held a wide smile on his face, and his spirit shone unlike any other. I had the pleasure of having him as my guide in the piece I’d contributed for the MOVE publication, as he was always encouraging us to find unique ways to express ourselves. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected by his tragic loss."
Nour Hassoun
“Moses was a clear-thinking man with a beautiful mind. For me, he showed me how to be the best person I could be by helping me to remove some of my own fears. He was warm, open and moments spent with him are so vividly memorable now, years later, that I feel as if it was just yesterday when we last spoke. I know he loved his family and friends profoundly, and his light, love, and energy will be found in the stories of everyone who was blessed to meet him. Thank you, Moses.”
Skyler Shah
"My favorite memory of Moses was during the 2016 Media Academy at Salzburg Global Seminar. We had a short coffee break in between sessions, and while standing in the courtyard among other participants, Moses and I got on the topic of different styles of dance, like the waltz. We were talking about the style and the steps, and in a moment of silliness, Moses and I started to waltz around the courtyard, pretending to sing some sort of stereotypical waltz tune and laughing while trying to keep [an] upright posture and look prim and proper. It was the first memory I thought of when I read this heartbreaking news. I’m lucky I had a chance to meet such a kind, brilliant, and incredible human while in Salzburg, and I’m sad that he’s gone."
Stephanie Quon
Below is an obituary first published by Campbell Funeral Home, where memories, photos, videos, candles, and mementos can also be shared.
Moses Augustin Bradberry Stamler Shumow June 27, 1977 – October 22, 2019
Moses Augustín Shumow, born on June 27, 1977, in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, died in Beverly, MA, on October 22, 2019. Moses was a resident of Beverly, Massachusetts.
Moses was raised in Gila, New Mexico, and grew up with a loving family and community. It was during his upbringing in the mountains of New Mexico that Moses cultivated a love of land and the outdoors and realized the importance and interconnectedness of geography, community and storytelling. He pursued these passions through higher education. He completed a BA in Communication at New Mexico State University, then went on to earn his MA in Broadcast Journalism at Emerson College. He spent the following decade pursuing his passion for film, working as a documentary filmmaker for local and national networks, including PBS, National Geographic, History Channel and Discovery. He received numerous awards for his work including the duPont-Columbia Gold Baton Award and a Rocky Mountain Emmy for Cultural Programming.
In 2007, Moses turned to academia, completing his PhD at the University of Miami in 2010 and beginning a teaching career at Florida International University. He taught at FIU for nine years, earning college-wide honors for teaching excellence and community engagement. In addition to his passionate teaching, Moses worked tirelessly to tell the stories of transnational and underserved communities in urban Miami. His documentary Liberty City Rising, produced with his students, screened around the United States and received national attention and accolades. Moses was incredibly proud of documenting the rich and often untold history of marginalized communities and believed in the power of storytelling to shift perspectives, challenge stereotypes, and create positive narratives. As a result of this work, Moses was awarded fellowships from the Miami Urban Future Initiative and Images of Voices and Hope.
In addition to his filmmaking, Moses was the editor of Mediated Communities: Civic Voices, Empowerment and Media Literacy in the Digital Age and co-author of News, Neoliberalism, and Miami’s Fragmented Urban Space. He authored numerous articles on media literacy, journalism and civic participation. In 2008, Moses joined the faculty of the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change, where he was able to find global avenues for his work, traveling to places like Cyprus, Beirut, Lebanon and Salzburg, Austria.
After teaching for nine years at Florida International University, Moses and his family returned to Boston in Fall 2019 to Emerson College, where Moses began a job as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Journalism. In his short time at Emerson, Moses taught courses in Community Participation and Digital Storytelling, quickly becoming a favorite of students. He volunteered to oversee the student-run News Service and was working to develop new courses for the graduate program in Media Design. Moses was also working on his latest book project about media literacy and community engagement.
Moses met his wife, Rose Mary Compagine, during an internship with WGBH Boston in 2002. They married in 2005 and moved to Miami, Florida to begin their family. Moses was a passionate and committed partner and husband who loved his family above all else, and he and Rose were overjoyed to welcome three beautiful children, Lola (11), Gus (9), and Rubén (2), into their lives. The family equally enjoyed the thriving multiculturalism of Miami as a city and the natural beauty of its coastline. Moses enjoyed traveling, running, dancing, playing music with friends, and was a basketball fan. He was a stalwart member of his Biscayne Park community and loved spending weekends with neighbors swimming, camping and making memories with the children. Yet his love for New Mexico endured, and he made sure that his family returned regularly to the beautiful mountains and rivers that he held in his heart.
Moses is survived by his wife, Rose Mary Shumow, daughter Lola Belle Shumow, sons Harry Augustin “Gus” Shumow and Rubén Emmanuel Shumow, his parents Emmanuel and Gail Stamler, brother Rio Stamler, his mother in-law Marta Compagine, sister and brother-in-law, Anna and Joel Cohen, nephews Maxemilio, Frederick and Nathaniel, and an extended network of cousins, aunts, uncles and loved ones.
Memorial services for Moses will take place on Sunday, October 27, at 2 p.m., at the First Baptist Church, in Beverly, MA. The address is 221 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA. The church is non-denominational, and services will be presided over by Reverend Julie Flowers and Rabbi Alison Adler.
Moses will always be remembered for his big, boisterous laugh, his conviction to making the world better by living his truths and his loyalty to family and friends. We remember him as the big guy who loved his children more than life and always wore his heart on his sleeve.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the education and care of Moses’s children, Lola, Gus and Rubén, by addressing checks to the Shumow Family, and sending them to the following address:
D’Ambrosio Brown LLP
Shumow Family Memorial Fund
185 Devonshire Street, 10th Floor
Boston, MA 02110.
Additional donations can be made at the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/come-together-for-the-shumow-family
Please direct inquiries to the Campbell Funeral Services, 525 Cabot St, Beverly, MA, 01915.
(978) 922-1113. To send flowers to the family of Moses Augustin Bradberry Stamler Shumow, please visit Tribute Store.