Fordham student Sydney Monfries honored at funeral after deadly fall

Speakers at the funeral for the Fordham University senior who plunged to her death from a clock tower struggled to be heard above the sobbing crowd Monday.

Hundreds of mourners filled the Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem to say farewell to 22-year-old Sydney Monfries, who died  April 14.

“The sadness we’re experiencing is truly indescribable,” one Fordham classmate told the mourners, gathered on a rainy afternoon. “She was resilient and determined, inspired and inspiring.”

Monfries was described as a devoted friend, daughter and sister who cared deeply about her family.

“It’s hard for us to wrap our minds around what happened to this young lady,” the Rev. Johnnie Green said.

The journalism student was just weeks from graduation when she was killed while taking part in a rite of passage for students at the elite Bronx school — scaling the off-limits Keating Hall clock tower, touching its bell and taking photos out one of its top windows.

Having worked as an intern at InStyle magazine in New York, Monfries was remembered as a bright young woman who had an ability to bring people together from different backgrounds.

“She had something positive to add to every conversation,” said Instyle Magazine’s editor-in-chief, Laura Brown.

Born in New Jersey, Monfries later spent a year living with her family in London, England, before they relocated to Oregon. Her father, Wayne, is from Mount Vernon in Westchester County.

She returned to the East Coast in 2015 to study at Fordham and would regularly have Sunday dinner with her grandfather and uncles.

An obituary for Monfries said she was idolized by her younger sister, Caitlyn, who “looked up to Sydney in every way.”

Officials say Monfries snuck into the Keating Hall clock tower with friends around 3 a.m. April 14 when she reportedly tripped over debris and plummeted more than 40 feet.

Emergency workers rushed her to St. Barnabas Hospital, where she was placed on life support and later died surrounded by family.

“Syd, I love you. I always have and I always will,” her godfather, Dwight Jones, told mourners.

Monfries was to be buried at Hastings-on-Hudson’s Mount Hope Cemetery in Westchester County on Monday afternoon.

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