Driver Who Fatally Struck Columbia Dean Charged, Police Say

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — The driver who fatally struck and killed a beloved Columbia University dean just blocks away from the school's Morningside Heights campus will face charges, police said.

Shiv Kumar, a 24-year-old Queens resident, was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to use due care, police said. Kumar was driving an SUV on West 116 Street at Claremont Avenue when he hit Peter Awn in the intersection, police said. The collision was not a hit-and-run.

Awn was heading home on the night of Jan. 25 when he was struck in the intersection of West 116th Street and Claremont Avenue, the Columbia Spectator first reported. He was treated in critical condition at Columbia University Medical Center. Awn was pronounced dead at the hospital on Feb. 17.

"Since his arrival on the Columbia campus more than four decades ago, no one has been a more beloved member of our community than Peter. The grief we feel at his loss is overwhelming," Columbia University President Lee Bollinger said in a statement.

In addition to his post as a dean, Awn taught courses and conducted research as a professor of Islamic and comparative religion at Columbia.

Awn is survived by his two sisters, nine nieces and nephews and 12 great nieces and nephews. His family encouraged people wanting to honor his legacy to make donations to the Peter J. Awn Scholarship Fund.