Wheaton graduate walking across country is fatally struck by SUV
A Wheaton College graduate who was walking across the country barefoot to raise awareness about climate change was killed over the weekend when he was struck by an SUV.
Mark Baumer, 33, died at the scene of the crash on Saturday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. He was walking along US 90 in Walton County, police said, when a driver allegedly drove onto the road’s shoulder and hit him.
“We are deeply saddened,” Wheaton College officials said in a statement Tuesday. “[Mark] was brilliant, thoughtful, and passionate. He contributed a great deal to the Wheaton community and to the world, and he will be sorely missed.”
Baumer graduated from Wheaton, a liberal arts college in Norton, in 2006. He majored in English and was a member of the college’s baseball team that made it to the NCAA Division III World Series, school officials said.
An environmental activist, author, and poet, Baumer had been in touch with the school just one day before his death for an article by the school’s alumni magazine about his cross-country walk.
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