Obituary of Matthieu D. Sherwood

Matthieu was the beloved last child of our family. Born on September 22, 1996 he was almost 13 and 8 years younger than his siblings. We had not really thought of having 3 children, but Spencer and Alex lobbied hard for a baby sibling. Matthieu was the easiest baby ever, did not cry for the first 6 months of his life. He was an outgoing toddler, happy all the time. As he grew, he became more aware of the age gap between him and his brothers and cousins. He sometimes felt left out but he caught up, and was warmly welcomed by all the “older boys”. Grammar school and High School, until 10th grade, were not easy times for him. He was often bullied mercilessly (sometimes bringing it on himself) but he had a few really good friends at tennis or skiing. Besides his sports, Matthieu was the happiest on our many family trips: France, many Caribbean islands, Australia, Mexico, California, Utah, to the ends of the roads in Canada, Iceland, etc. In 10th grade the local Jesuit H.S. threatened to expel him. Instead we pulled him out for home schooling for a few months. At that time, he was diagnosed with ADHD and everything fell into place with treatment. He transferred to Wilson Magnet HS for his junior year and entered the academically challenging IB Programme (International Baccalaureate). He received a full tuition scholarship to the University of Rochester and as an incoming freshman was awarded the prestigious $4,000 Research and Innovation Grant. He decided to study Brain and Cognitive Sciences to better understand the workings of the mind. He developed deep friendships with his tennis club team the Yellowrackets. After graduation, many of them have stayed in touch and a group met every year in Stratton VT to ski together. Matt went every time, the last trip this March. Besides Tennis Matt truly loved to ski and competed many years in slopestyle events. His junior year in HS he qualified for slopestyle nationals in Colorado. Another important part of his life was France. He spent every summer there except 2019. He was looking forward to his upcoming trip before the pandemic. He had many deep friendships there, young people with whom, year after year he would play tennis, chess, laugh, sing, swim, bike together. After graduation from university Matt worked first in a research lab at UR. He moved to Boston in July 2019 to work in a lab at Boston University. He was in the process of studying his future plans – a master’s in biomedical engineering? Here? In France? A PhD in Brain & Cognitive Science? Here? In France? We have been amazed by the outpouring of beautifully written tributes to Matt from his many friends in both countries. Not only will he be deeply missed by his parents Carol and Scott, and his brothers Spencer and Alexandre. The world is a worse place without him. A Zoom service in celebration of Matthieu will be held on Saturday June 6th at 12:00 (EST). The meeting link can be found at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87137765713 In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Matthieu Sherwood Memorial Scholarship for the UR Yellowjackets Club Tennis Team at https://www.gofundme.com/f/matthieu-sherwood-memorial-scholarship or to your favorite local anti-bullying initiative. Interment at Mt. Hope Cemetery overlooking the UR campus will be when his brother Alex will be able to travel safely from France.