Trent Moyar. Courtesy | Mark Moyar

Trent Moyar, son of history professor Mark Moyar, died Aug. 22 at age 22 after a years-long battle with bone cancer.

“He was a very caring and kind person,” William P. Harris Chair of Military History Mark Moyar said. “He dealt very bravely with the terrible affliction that he ended up having to bear.”

Trent Moyar was an introvert who loved coding, Studio Ghibli films, and rollercoasters, his father said. He competed in track and field in high school. After graduating, he attended the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science.

“He wasn’t able to run in college, and he eventually had surgeries, but he seemed pretty upbeat throughout this,” Mark Moyar said. “He was more stoic, probably, than others in the family, and tended to be very calm and collected, even when bad news was coming in.”

Trent Moyar’s best track event was the 800-meter, but he also competed in the 1,000-meter and ran cross country. He placed fourth in the 1,000 in his final competitive race.

Trent Moyar also loved Lego sets and heavy metal music, senior Mary Boudreaux said. 

Boudreaux met the Moyar family when a professor found out she had experienced a bone cancer that was similar to Trent Moyar’s. Boudreaux has now been in remission for almost six years, but she said she and Trent Moyar traded treatment and hospital stories.

“Trent is actually the perfect example of what people at Hillsdale want to be, in the sense that literally nothing stops Trent at all,” Boudreaux said. “Quiet strength, I think, is a good way to describe him. And I think in so many ways, he really embodies a lot of what Hillsdale really loves. And it was just so impressive to see, no matter what complication came up, or what setback came up, he was always continuing to push himself.”

Boudreaux said Trent Moyar and his brother always beat her when they played boardgames, card games, and video games.

“We played Othello at one point,” Boudreaux said. “He also really beat me at that. I’m just not good at any game that involves strategy. I’m horrible at it. He was very, very good at all of those.”

Boudreaux said one of her favorite memories of Trent is when he took her, his brother, and his mom out in the family’s boat one summer.

“He was telling me all the different distinctions in heavy metal music,” Boudreaux said. “And he’s explaining, like, there’s heavy metal and death metal and rage metal — I’m not sure, there’s a whole genre of them. So he’s describing all the differences. And it was very funny because he’s such a quiet, cards-to-the-chest kind of guy, but then is totally into this screamo rock music.”

Gwen Thompson ’25, a former student of Mark Moyar, said that even though she only met Trent Moyar once, the way he handled his sickness made an impression on her.

“I remember being struck with how honestly and calmly he carried his sickness,” Thompson said. “He did not apologize for, hide, or seem bitter about his crutches, but was a great example of patience.”

Boudreaux said Trent Moyar returned to college for a semester during chemotherapy and got all As.

“He was a very inspiring person,” Boudreaux said. “In many ways, you would never know that he was going through all of that.”

Dilsun Kaynar, associate teaching professor at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science and Trent Moyar’s academic adviser, said Moyar was “a joy” in class.

“Even when it was a physical challenge for him to come to class, he was always fully engaged and focused,” Kaynar wrote for Trent Moyar’s tribute book. “It was a joy to see and interact with him, and every professor who taught him felt the same way.”

Mor Harchol-Balter, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon, and Weina Wang, assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon, also spoke highly of Moyar in a joint statement for the tribute book.

“Despite the crutches, the tubes, and the medications, Trent somehow managed to stay upbeat whenever he met with us, never missing homework and excelling at all exams,” they said. “Trent simply loved to learn new things and seemed to always be grateful just to get the chance to do that.”

Trent Moyar is survived by his father; his mother, Kelli; his sister, Greta; and his brother, Luke.

Trent Moyar was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma in January 2021. The cancer went away after months of chemotherapy but returned the following year. Hillsdale College student Emmy Sigtryggsson died from the same form of cancer in 2024. Assistant Dean of Men Jeffery “Chief” Rogers spoke at a memorial service for Sigtryggsson hosted by the college.

“I got to know several of Emmy’s friends after discovering that her loss had been devastating to them, and I tried to provide some comfort to them,” Mark Moyar said. “The service for Emmy at Christ Chapel last fall was very moving. I particularly liked Chief’s eulogy, in which he eloquently described how death is not the end but only the transition to a better place.”

Trent Moyar’s funeral was held at Living Savior Lutheran Church in Fairfax, Virginia, where he grew up. Flack Family Foundation Chair and Professor of Theology Mickey Mattox attended the service.

“That sense of accompaniment, you sort of look for that, who can help me bear this burden?” Mattox said. “And if you can be there and help someone do that, what more important thing is there than that?”

Mattox said he and Mark Moyar joined the Hillsdale College faculty in the fall of 2022 — Moyar had spent the previous year at the Kirby Center for Constitutionalism and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. The two connected over shared experiences — Mattox’s late wife, Pam, was battling cancer at the same time as Trent Moyar.

“Pam and Trent just kind of got along, and it wasn’t like they were cancer patients, like exchanging notes or something,” Mattox said. “They were just chatting. I think he liked her. My wife was very personable, she wasn’t trying to figure out what to say to him. She was just being herself to him.”

Mattox said the Moyar family supported him when his wife died last January.

“You can’t die with someone else, but you can accompany them. So being present is not insignificant — to be there, to be at their side,” Mattox said. “They were there for me. I’m glad I was able to be there for them, too.”

Director of Program Review and Accreditation Samuel Negus also attended the funeral. Negus said he met Mattox and Mark Moyar shortly after his own wife was diagnosed with cancer.

“Life-ending cancer is something that just forms a kind of immediate bond with anyone who has been through the same thing,” Negus said. “There’s just an obvious, natural sympathy right away.”

Negus, whose wife is now in remission, said he attended the funeral both to represent the college and out of a sense of shared solidarity. He encouraged students to pray for the Moyar family.

“I’m sure Dr. Moyar and his wife Kelli would be very happy and feel uplifted to know that the students were praying for them,” Negus said. “I doubt it would be unwelcome for any students who encounter Dr. Moyar to tell him that they’re praying for him and his family.”

Faith, Mark Moyar said, is the biggest comfort for him and his wife.

“The greatest solace for my wife Kelli and I has been our faith that Trent is now with God in a place where he is not encumbered by all of the terrible things he had to endure in this world,” Mark Moyar said.

Mattox also encouraged prayer. He said he found it most helpful when people showed him they remembered him.

“The thing I liked when people said it to me, ‘I have no words.’ I thought, I don’t have any either,” Mattox said. “Because nothing you can say really will change it. And to acknowledge that with another person is to acknowledge your co-humanity.”

Mattox said he had one student tell him she had been praying for him the whole time his wife was sick.

“When people say that to you, it makes you feel less like giving up, because you kind of want to throw in the towel at a certain point, like give up and just stay home and cry all the time or something,” Mattox said. “I could tell someone I’ve been praying for them in a way where I would be trying to show them that I have been praying for you — that’s not helpful. On the other hand, if I can kind of quietly say to a person, I’m remembering you, then that’s something so I feel that I’ve been remembered, and I want to remember them in the same way.”

Boudreaux said watching the Moyar family support Trent Moyar has been an inspiration to her.

“They’re an incredible, incredible family, and I think just seeing how they have handled all of the trials as a family and how their faith has never wavered in this, I think, has honestly been really inspiring to me, and really encouraging in my faith too,” Boudreaux said. “I think that anyone who has had the blessing of knowing their family would absolutely agree with me when I say that they’re one of the most incredible families I’ve ever met.”