Brendan was born Dec. 14, 1996, many weeks too early and just shy of 5 pounds. We received our best Christmas present ever when we got to bring him home on Christmas Eve. His earthly life was cut way too short when it ended unexpectedly Jan. 19, 2023.
Despite his tiny start, he grew into a strapping young man well over 6 feet tall, who played baseball in high school, club basketball in college, and then several mixed martial arts. Brendan loved sports of all types – especially his Boston Red Sox, Indy Colts, and Auburn Tigers, who he got to see win the national football championship. He attended many games with his dad and faithful Auburn family.
Brendan graduated cum laude with BS and MS degrees from Auburn University in Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2021, and recently earned an MBA from the University of California, San Diego. He was most recently a purchasing and operations manager for the Aptera solar electric car company in Carlsbad, CA. His work was very important to him, and he brought enthusiasm and a strong professional ethic to it. His supervisors and team members said that he brightened every day, and that they loved him.
Accompanying his academic and athletic achievements, Brendan’s many friends, mentors, coaches, and colleagues will tell you that he was a joy to be around – enthusiastically engaged in whatever he attempted, and generously helpful to those with whom he worked, played and interacted. He left a lasting legacy of accomplishment and great good will at each of his too-few adventures in the world.
Brendan's parents, Beth McCleary and Michael Fagan, and sister Shannon Fagan, live in northern Nevada. He has other relatives in Alabama, Texas and North Carolina. In addition to this memorial service, a second memorial will be held Mar. 25, 2023, at the Auburn University Chapel on College Street in Auburn, Alabama. Though Brendan would understand all of our sadness at his passing, he would also want each of us to remember him in the Light, with a lively step in our gaits, a joyful smile in our hearts, and an abiding remembrance of the importance of being sometimes silly, and sometimes contrary. His warm and loving spirit will never leave us, and our love for him goes on with him into forever.