Photo courtesy of the Anopolsky family.

Maya Anopolsky, a rising senior at Washington University, passed away on May 28 after having an allergic reaction that paramedics were unable to control through medication. She was 21 years old. 

She is remembered by her parents, Jennifer and Sanford Anopolsky, and her two younger brothers, Robert and Max, as well as countless friends from WashU, high school, summer camp, and more. 

As Maya’s friends described her, one phrase came up again and again: she was the glue of so many relationships. She brought people into her life, and she brought them together. 

“She brought me in when I needed it the most,” senior Aerin Greif said. “She always had her arms wide open for new friends and made sure to make people feel like they were loved.” 

Originally born in Los Angeles, Maya lived in Bethesda, Maryland for much of her life, where she attended Holton-Arms School. 

When Maya was deciding where to apply to colleges during the pandemic, she wasn’t able to tour schools normally, she ultimately decided to apply early-decision in part because her parents had such a great experience as undergraduate students at WashU decades prior. 

“She was like, this sounds really good, and since you and Dad loved it, I’m sure I’ll love it too,” Jennifer Anopolsky, Maya’s mom, said.   

Three years later, Maya had built a life at WashU where she was challenged and engaged, surrounded by friends who described her presence as comforting and endlessly entertaining. 

“She had such a fun-loving personality,” senior Noah Kates, who met Maya their first year at WashU, said. “She was very down to do kind of anything.”

During her time at WashU, Maya made the most of the little moments with friends— cooking with her roommates, taking long walks through Forest Park, taking study breaks to get snow cones, and yelling through the sunroof of her friend’s car as they drove up and down the street. 

Senior Liv Przydzial met Maya during their first year at WashU and became inseparable, living together for the next two years. 

“We did so many big things together, but honestly the things that stick out most were when we were together doing our day-to day-stuff,” Przydzial said. “Her energy, and the people she attracted, I’ve never seen anyone so magnetic.” 

She also found chances for adventures at every turn, from a day trip to the beach in Illinois to traveling to Madrid and Dublin over Spring Break to visit friends abroad. 

“We had a great time in Dublin, and she was right there leading our pub crawl, blending in with everyone, and making friends along the way,” Kates said. “She always made friends.”

For senior Camilla Giorcelli, Maya was one of the first friends she made at WashU, as they were suitemates their first year. 

“My first impression was, ‘wow, this girl loves pink.’ She had decorated her entire room completely pink,” Giorcelli said.

As they grew closer, she got to know more about other aspects of Maya’s personality, including how bubbly and unapologetically true to herself she was. 

“She loved her friends so much,” Giorcelli said. “She was an extremely loyal friend and that’s something that’s kind of rare to come across, the level of effort she put into all of her friendships.”

Jennifer Anopolsky said that in the months since she passed, the family learned how Maya was known as someone who brought people together. Her friends described her as a natural connector, making them feel valued and important.

“Our family couldn’t agree more,” Jennifer Anopolsky said.

In addition to her close connection to her parents, her mom described her relationship with her younger brothers, who looked up to her as a role model.

“When one of her brothers went off to college she really looked out for him and gave him advice on being a freshman in college,” she said. “She was always really proud.”

Maya was majoring in Psychology and minoring in Marketing, with plans to spend her summer working in advertising in New York City, where she was going to live with a close friend from high school. 

“I feel like she was on the verge of some great experiences and I’m sad that it was cut short,” Jennifer Anopolsky said. 

Outside of classes, Maya was involved on many corners of campus, working as a research assistant in a psychology lab, Vice President of Events for the Washington University Marketing Association (WUMA), an innovation intern at the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Director of Social Media for her sorority Alpha Phi over the course of three years. 

Maya’s friends and family described her unwavering dedication to accomplish her academic goals — how when she set her sights on something, she worked until she got it.

Greif talked about the day that Maya came home having decided that she wanted to single-handedly organize a forum to talk about the impact of artificial intelligence on marketing through WUMA. 

“She reached out to a bunch of professionals and professors and organized this whole speaker panel, and I was so proud of her,” Greif said. “She was just so brilliant and so hard working. ” 

Przydzial remembers the days leading up to the panel as full of hard work — but Maya managed to make it fun.

“We actually had an inflatable mattress in Bauer [Hall] and we would take turns taking naps,” Przydzial said. “It was literally plugged into the floor. She was so spontaneous and so adventurous but at the same time she was locked in.” 

Outside of extracurriculars, Maya found the little details that made WashU home. She knew all the names of the dogs that frequented campus — who reminded her of her labradoodle Biscuit — and could name all the different flowers she spotted walking around. 

For the countless people who Maya impacted at WashU and beyond, it’s so many of these little things — flowers, cookies from Colleen’s, karaoke with friends — that remind them of her joy and excitement for life. 

In Maya’s memory, her family has worked to establish the The Maya Rae Anopolsky Memorial Fund, which will offer an annual gift that will put funds towards helping future WashU students. To date, the fund has raised nearly $90,000 of its $250,000 goal. Her family is honored by the many donations already made, and hopes others will consider supporting this worthy cause. 

“It’s a place she loved, a place where she had many hopes and dreams about where it was going to take her,” Jennifer Anopolsky said. “It can’t fund her hopes and dreams, but it can fund the hopes and dreams of other young people just like her.” 

Her family has also created a website with tributes from many of Maya’s loved ones, fundraising updates, and a photo gallery. 

For Przydzial, summarizing Maya’s impact on all of the people who cared about her is something that goes beyond words.

“She wasn’t just adventurous and fun and awesome and smart, she was also real and down to earth, one of the most genuine people I think I’ll ever meet in my life,” she said. “I don’t know what else there is to say — it’s more a feeling, and everyone who loved her feels it.”