Who Jake Schreiber Was, and How He Motivates Everything We Do

Jake Schreiber (2005-2024) was a brilliant, kind, and talented student at Brown University when, in the summer of 2024, he died by suicide.

At the time of his death, Jake had found his community among like-minded students on campus and was looking forward to declaring a physics major with a concentration in astronomy. He had developed his compositional skills and passion for electronic music to a high level: headphones on, composing, Jake could spend hours lost in creative flow, and here, too, he found community, collaborating with DJs and other professionals all over the world. He was a varsity tennis player through high school and a beautiful skier who adored winter breaks in the mountains of the American West.

Jake was a kind and devoted big brother and son, grandson, cousin, and friend. He had grown up deeply rooted in family, and supported in health and happiness. He wore his giftedness lightly; he was caring, witty, and gracious. Jake knew joy. Jake shared joy. Jake was thriving.

The staggering mismatch between the richness of Jake’s life, just opening onto full-fledged adulthood, and the unanticipated crisis that led to his death, leaves a gap beyond grief.

Simply put, we believe that there is information to be learned from this gap that will save lives.

Recent developments in neuroscience and psychological research have yielded insight into the ways certain young people’s brains respond to crisis moments that affect everyone at some point in life, such as the loss of a relationship or a treasured opportunity. Heartbreak, a rite of passage for almost every teen, for some young people proves fatal. In fact, rejection of many kinds can prove insurmountable for this group. By examining how a neurodivergent brain processes rejection and moves toward negative urgency—deploying, impulsively, in the service of pain, all the talent and power others will have observed in school, say, or sports, or music, or art—researchers have identified interventions that can save lives.

But there is very little funding for such work, and indeed moving from clinical observations and those made in laboratories to focused interventions in real-world settings requires time, investment, and coordination. The Jake Collective is dedicated to this work.

Among all of his intellectual pursuits, Jake was most passionate about black holes. They are so enormous, so annihilating, so famously impossible to understand that we use the term “black hole” as shorthand for something the human mind cannot comprehend. Jake, however, saw a way in. He’d have stayed up all night explaining them to you: their beauty, their singularity, their infinitude.

We, following the lead of his curiosity and brilliance, will continue to cast light on the seemingly impenetrable darkness of young neurodivergent minds in acute distress. To the young people who are “masking,” appearing, in their achievements and sociability, to be without internal conflict; to the young people who believe that their brains are somehow different, even though science has not yet delivered a description that serves: We see you. We support you. We are developing the teams, tools, and information that will help you to thrive.

In this way we honor Jake and the great gift of his life.