SMU awards Dallas man posthumous diploma weeks after he was killed by hit-and-run driver

As graduation season comes to a close, one North Texas family said a recently received degree is bittersweet.

In May, Southern Methodist University posthumously awarded a Master’s of Computer Science to Jason Brown weeks after he was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

“The person you love the most is gone, and there’s just nothing you can do about it except miss him,” said Brown’s wife Tiffany Brown.

This should’ve been the start of a new chapter for the Browns.

The couple was three years into marriage after a decade together and Jason would soon have his degree and a new career.

But on April 8^th, the 47-year-old went for a run near the couple’s apartment in North Dallas and never came home.

“It kills me that someone just left him and didn’t care and it’s just a void. He’s gone and there’s nothing I can do,” said Brown.

According to a TXDOT crash report, Jason was on a sidewalk along Spring Valley Road, near the corner of Montfort Drive, when the driver of a red Volkswagon Jetta hopped a curb, hit him and fled.

More than two months later, loved ones say they’re still waiting on police to make an arrest.

“I’d say some days are better than others,” said Jason’s sister Mia Luna.

Luna said Jason was the happiest she’d ever seen him.

That day, he’d celebrated with Tiffany and family as they watched the solar eclipse, texting each other about their experiences.

In the days to come, he’d have his degree and be ready to start a long-awaited career in cyber security.

“He struggled a lot whenever he was younger in high school and afterward. He had paranoid schizophrenia,” she said. “It took him awhile, but he kept on fighting and fighting and fighting. He’s like, I’ll just take one class here. I’ll take another class there. It never stopped him.”

His family was immensely proud.

So it was nothing short of bittersweet when, a few weeks after his death, SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering posthumously awarded Jason his degree last month.

In a statement, SMU Vice President for Student Affairs K.C. Mmeje said:  

“Jason was a strong student and so close to completing his degree requirements. Had it not been for his untimely death, he would have been celebrated among our graduates. The University and the Lyle School of Engineering were both very supportive of conferring his degree posthumously.  Considering the circumstances of his death, it was the least we could do to demonstrate to his family that he was a valued member of our community.  Jason will always be a Mustang.”

“It was surreal,” said Tiffany. “A lot of the speeches were about the future and now that you’re done, you’ve put all this time in and what to look forward to and I couldn’t help but be like, he doesn’t get that.”

Though they’ll never know what his next chapter would’ve looked like, Brown and Luna are sharing his story as they wait for justice.

“I feel like Jason got life, like what it was about. And it was about loving and not giving up,” said Tiffany.

They hope it will inspire others to do the same.