WASHINGTON — People missing after the condominium building collapse in Surfside Florida include a 21-year old George Washington University (GWU) student and the wife of a well-known Democratic political strategist.
Deborah Berezdivin transferred to George Washington University in the fall of 2020, according to a GWU spokeswoman. School officials are as hopeful as possible that Berezdivin will be found alive so that she can rejoin her classmates for in-person learning for the first time since she joined the university's community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Berezdivin is part of a close-knit Jewish community in Puerto Rico, according to reporting by El Nuevo Dia. She and her boyfriend were reportedly in Florida to attend the funeral of a family friend who died of COVID in March, according to the Rabbi of the Miami Synagogue that was hosting them.
Cassondra Stratton, the wife of democratic strategist Michael J. Stratton, is also still missing following the collapse. Her husband's work is based in D.C. and Denver for the firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP. Mr. Stratton told the Miami-Herald he was in Denver speaking on the phone to his wife when the building collapsed around her.
One of her friends, Laraine Memola, spoke to WUSA9's sister station in Denver, KUSA9 TV.
"She just lifted everybody up," Memola said. "She was a ray of sunshine and a spot of hope and light for the whole world."
Cassondra Stratton is a model and Pilates instructor who splits her time between Florida and Colorado, Memola said.