In Memoriam: Remembering Hasan Mabry C’22

PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION FROM YVONNE ROSS

On Saturday, May 3, 2025, 25 MAPPsters representing decades of graduating classes gathered with Yvonne Ross to remember her son, Hasan Tysheem Mabry (C’22), who died on March 18, 2025.

As a proud University of Pennsylvania graduate who attended the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hasan, our classmates, and I initially knew each other only virtually. At first Hasan seemed quiet and reserved. He joined our virtual classroom from a lowly lit room and spoke up only sometimes. We quickly learned that both his voice and his insights were deep.

In the years that have passed since our first virtual onsite, Hasan forged friendships and deep connections at Penn and in the MAPP community, both as a student and TA for Martin Seligman’s Spring 2024 undergraduate course: The Science of Well-being. Hasan was known and loved for his kindness, compassion, and care. Capella Fahoome (C’22), whom Hasan deemed as an “OG” lit up as she recalled Hasan with fondness. And as our classmate Jamie Trevino (C’22) shared, “Hasan was a good friend with boundless depth, love, and care. He exuded compassion and had a smile that would light up the room.” According to a few, Hasan was also quite a dancer! Nicole Mikanik (C’18) remembered Hasan as “an angel and beautiful soul.” And MAPP program director, James Pawelski echoed these sentiments, recalling that Hasan was “a special soul and deep thinker who didn’t need to steal the spotlight.”

As a community, we honored Hasan not only with laughter and tears, but also with stories and song. Together Paula Toledo (C’22) and Jamie Trevino (C’22) prepared and shared a photo slideshow set to Paula’s song, “Riddle.” And Darlene Marshall (C’20) sang a moving acapella rendition of “In the Garden.” As several alums, including Charmaine Skepasts (C’22) and Suzi Pileggi Pawelski (C’08), reflected on their friendships with Hasan, a common theme emerged: His mom.

I had the honor and great pleasure of meeting with Ms. Yvonne a few days later. She described Hasan as a gift from God, her best friend, and her miracle child. Although he was born breach with two broken legs and a six-month recovery prognosis, his legs had healed perfectly by his six-week checkup. “I knew he was going to go places,” his mother recounted to me with a smile.

As a boy, Hasan was bow-legged. He liked sports and playing games. He loved to read, run, and eat! He skateboarded, made up stories, and wanted to be a superhero. He didn’t like bullies but loved his mom and especially his grandma. As a man, Hasan was well-mannered and responsible. He liked the simpler things in life. He loved spending time with friends, partying, and dancing. He was about 17 when he began noticing life’s nuances and challenges. And around age 27, he began finding himself. Hasan had lifelong friends as close as brothers and a strong faith in God. Yvonne recalls that in the last few years of his life, he was growing into the man he wanted to become. “He had his flaws, but who doesn’t? The good in Hasan always outweighed the bad.”

Hasan was close to his family and was deeply loved and respected within it. “Everyone would call him for answers, and he’d be right there to help,” Yvonne explained. Many of Hasan’s aunties, including Tina Smith, reached out to me to share their pride in and love for him. “He was one of the greatest examples of cultural confidence and human decency,” wrote his aunt Aquila. “He was loveable, funny, and smart,” and “the sky was the limit for him,” his Aunts Sha and Sonya shared. In Aunt Sha’s words, “Hasan stood for everything good. His positive outlook on life made him who he was.”

Hasan was particularly close with his grandmother, whom he cared for during his teenage years until 2019, when she succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. Until his own death, Hasan remained connected to the Alzheimer’s community and aspired to find a cure. He shared an unbreakable bond with his sister, Shakiah. “It was always us three,” Yvonne shared—until it wasn’t. Sadly, Shakiah died unexpectedly in December 2022. It was a loss Hasan never really recovered from.

Days before Mother’s Day, seated in the Tykiah Lounge—a room Yvonne has papered in photos, keepsakes, and memories of her two children—Yvonne expressed her love for life and gratitude for the 42 years she shared with her daughter and the 34 years with her son. “My kids made me want to be a better person. They made me who I am. We helped one another grow.”

Yvonne points to her family, faith in God, and memories of her children as lifelines. “It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve gotten through a lot.”

PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION FROM YVONNE ROSS

“This is how I get to hold onto them” she told me as she shared keepsakes and looked around the Tykiah Lounge. “I get to see them through the pictures. I play their voicemails just to hear their voices. . . When I’m feeling down or when I think of things he did or we did, I’ll just bust out laughing.”

Together, Ms. Yvonne and I laughed. And we cried.

“And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am his own
And the joy we share
As we tarry there
None other has ever known.”
—C. Austin Miles (from In the Garden)

“This is going to be a long journey, but with the grace of God and my family and friends, it will be OK. I have to keep fighting because this is what they would want me to do. I know I’ll be OK. I know one day I’ll see my kids again. And I won’t let go.”

Yvonne wishes to thank everyone in the MAPP community who has supported and encouraged her and her family during this season of tremendous loss. Please continue to keep Hasan in your memories and Yvonne in your thoughts and prayers.

To contribute to Hasan’s memorial GoFundMe campaign, click here.