Melissa Nicandri (B.A. ‘18) was one of two alumni who passed away in the Jan. 29 American Airlines collision with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia. She was returning home to Brooklyn Heights, New York, from a work conference in Kansas and connecting at the Ronald Reagan airport.
Originally from Ponte Verde, Florida, Nicandri graduated from Vanderbilt with a B.A. in Economics in 2018. At Vanderbilt, she was a Peer Guide at the Center for Student Wellbeing, a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority and a Gamma Chi and tutored with The AfterSchool Program. She later earned her master’s in international economics and finance from Johns Hopkins University. Nicandri worked as an analyst for Moody’s Ratings.
Nicandri’s mother, Stacie Nicandri, described her as everything a parent could want in a daughter.
“She loved her family, boyfriend Ben and friends fiercely,” Stacie Nicandri said. “She never hesitated to help anyone who asked. She worked hard to live a big life. Her passing has left a big hole for all that knew her. She will be forever missed.”
Her father, Peter Nicandri, also remembered Nicandri as an incredible daughter.
“Melissa was everything that anyone would want in a daughter. She was smart, beautiful, funny, generous and kind to everyone. She really blossomed at Vanderbilt and loved living in Nashville. Her family is going to miss her terribly and are going to make sure she is never forgotten,” Peter said.
In a joint statement to The Hustler, Nicandri’s friends and Vanderbilt alumni Emily Daley ’18, Cloe Anderson ’18, Paxton Gammie ’18, Arleigh Salce ’18, Jessica Roth ’18, Tanya Wadhawan ’18, Chelsea MacKenzie ’18 and Rachel Brous ’18 described her as a kind, devoted friend who was energetic, goofy and “a self-defined sugar fiend.”
“Some of our most treasured memories with Melissa involve our Sunday ritual — dinner on campus followed by a trip to 12 South for Sprinkles cupcakes, with the ‘Shrek 2’ soundtrack blasting in the car,” the statement reads. “Melissa was obsessed with music and was constantly at a show on campus, at Live on the Green or around Nashville, often for a band that she loved that no one else had heard of.”
Nicandri’s friends also said she was “everything Vanderbilt’s community embodies” and someone who connected with everyone on a deep level. Her friends said they were grateful they all returned to Vanderbilt in the fall of 2023 for their five-year reunion as they saw the joy Nicandri felt being back on campus.
“Though we’re devastated by her loss, the four years we shared with her at Vanderbilt gave us a lifetime of memories that we’ll forever carry in our hearts,” the statement reads. “Melissa wasn’t just a friend; she was the support system and ‘glue’ for so many people in her life and Vandy is all the better for having had her in the community.”
