Eric Sinacori was passionate about electronic dance music, particularly ‘glitch hop,’ a form of electronic hip-hop.

“He’d be mad if I didn’t specify,” said his girlfriend, Brianne Oliveira, a senior at the University of Massachusetts.

Sinacori’s favorite DJ was Bassnectar, and he also enjoyed music by other DJs like Lotus and Griz. He frequently attended concerts and music festivals, often with a group of friends in tow.

Sinacori’s love for music was a big part of his life. It’s something that his friends and family will remember about him since he passed away on Oct. 4 in his Puffton Village apartment. He was 20. The cause of his death is still under investigation.

Sinacori is survived by his mother, Francesca Sinacori, his father, John Sinacori, his stepmother, Barbara Sinacori, his half-sister, Valerie Sinacori and his stepbrother, Cody Fis.

Francesca Sinacori said that losing her only son was her biggest nightmare. She remembered him when he was little.

“Since he could walk, he would just go up to everybody and give them a hug, not because he had to, but because he wanted to,” she said.

And he never stopped hugging. According to his father, Sinacori gave big hugs to anyone that he cared about. If he liked you, he hugged you.

“He was a great hugger,” his father said. “That’s one of the things I’m going to miss the most.”
Eric Sinacori grew up in Whitehouse Station, N.J. He attended Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington N.J. where he played ice hockey on the varsity team.

According to Andy Gojdycz, his coach at the time, Sinacori had a quiet demeanor.
“He was not one to vent frustrations,” Gojdycz said, adding that he was very respectful and a loyal team player.

“He never questioned his teammates,” Gojdycz said. “He was definitely there for his team.”

Sinacori didn’t play ice hockey at UMass, but he still enjoyed watching the sport with his friends Alex Merithew, 21, and Chris Mulrey, 20. They all lived on the same floor of John Adams their freshman year.

Watching ice hockey together was a constant battle, as Sinacori was a Rangers fan and Merithew and Mulrey rooted for the Bruins.

“He argued a lot,” Mulrey said about watching the games together.

Sinacori also enjoyed watching baseball and football. He liked the New York Mets, and his father was a season ticket holder for the New York Jets.

“A lot of what we did revolved around sports,” his dad said.

Sinacori received scholarships at UMass, where he studied kinesiology. His parents said that he wanted to do something in the medical field, like physical therapy. His mom, dad and girlfriend believed that his biggest desire was aiding others.

“He just wanted to help people,” they all said.

His friends believe he also would have succeeded in the music industry. Mulrey thought he would have been a good music promoter.

“If he found a good song he would make sure everyone heard it,” Mulrey said.

Merithew believes he would have been good at making his own music because he had such a passion for it.

Sinacori’s mother remembered his love for music too, and how he had eclectic tastes.

“It was a mixture of jazz, rock, techno, old music…it was never one style,” she said.

At the Electric Forest music festival in Michigan, Sinacori worked a 15-hour shift directing cars in the parking lot in exchange for a free ticket. This August, he helped organize a music festival in New Jersey called FarmFest. He worked with artists and vendors, and helped with ticket sales.

Sinacori’s love for music eventually led him to his next love, his girlfriend. He met Brianne Oliveira at a Conspirator concert last fall, and the two kept coincidentally seeing each other at parties and concerts.

“He just kept popping up,” Oliveira said.

They grew closer over the school year and finally became exclusive on July 4 when Oliveira drove four and a half hours to New Jersey to stay for a week. They continued to visit each other a few more times throughout the summer, maintaining a long-distance relationship between Massachusetts and New Jersey.

“He was my first real love,” she said.

Oliveira will always remember him as a good boyfriend.

“He never judged me. I didn’t have to feel pretty or skinny,” she said. “He respected who I was.”

During a visit to his house on a 90-degree summer day, the pool was closed, so the two of them sat outside and stargazed for a while. They rested quietly as they watched the clear night sky.

Oliveira appreciated “being able to just sit with somebody and absorb the energy.” She said that she usually keeps herself busy, and she enjoyed this new practice of stillness.
She said that Sinacori would meditate for 10 minutes every day. He was also into astrology and numerology: life paths. She said that he was cosmic, that he loved the stars.

Sinacori’s mom remembered his fascination with the natural world when he was a child.

“He saw the beauty in things. He would look up at the sky at the clouds forming,” she said. “He would look beyond the surface.”

Merithew remembered Sinacori as a genuine person who liked to live in the moment.

“What you see is what you get,” he said of Sinacori.

Merithew and Mulrey said he was very friendly and funny.

Mulrey, his roommate freshman year, said that he was outgoing “from the second you met him.”

“He’d be the one that was making everyone laugh,” Merithew said. He recalled a time at a party on Sunset Avenue where everyone was dancing and having a good time. Sinacori got up on the couch and then jumped onto a tiny stool, maintaining his balance above the crowd. Everyone laughed.

They all partied together, and Oliveira said that as soon as she and Sinacori were in the room it really got going. They used to battle it out at the sound system.

“I’m going to play a song,” he’d say in protest as Oliveira reminded him that they were at her house, and that she should be able to pick the music.

Luckily they had similar tastes.

A scholarship fund is being raised in Sinacori’s name. Donations may be sent to the Eric Sinacori Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 268, Whitehouse Station, N.J., 08888.

Mary Reines can be reached at [email protected].