Loved ones gathered in Nassau on Saturday to create a way to honor the legacies of two men whose lives were cut short.

It was a memorial scholarship fundraiser barbecue for Michael Fahrenkopf and Robert Dyson. Fahrenkopf died unexpectedly back in 2016 and Dyson was in the limo that crashed in Schoharie last October, killing 20 people.

The two were brothers in the Delta Tau Tau fraternity at Clarkson University. On Saturday, their fraternity brothers came together to  honor them for years to come.

"We decided to take a negative and turn it into a positive," said organizer, Fahrenkopf's friend and fraternity brother, Morgan "Bubbalouie" Knapton.

When Fahrenkopf —  affectionately called Fievel — died suddenly, Knapton decided to start a scholarship at their alma mater. Delta Tau Tau came together to set up the scholarship's criteria for an incoming freshman in the school's engineering program.

"Part of it was the student had to be into music, they had to be into the outdoors, things [Fahrenkopf] liked," Knapton said.

The group awards $2,500 every semester for all four years of schooling, and this fall, the scholarship will help its fourth student. The selected student must maintain their required GPA level and other scholarship requirements.

"To be able to reach out and help other people in the same way we ourselves were helped, it's nice to be able to provide that," said organizer Jake "Tweeter" Bonnie.

Robert, known as "Bitz" by his family, was equally named on this year's scholarship. His brother Derek and close friend Paul Bromley, say the support has been incredible. 

"Rob was extremely close with his fraternity brothers; he lived and breathed his fraternity," said Derek Dyson, Robert's brother.

"He was always there to help me out and he's just an all around good guy," said Paul "Sponge" Bromley.

Now the brothers say even though the tragedies of losing the two are what brought this memorial scholarship fund together, it's a rewarding experience to honor their friends.

"Getting that letter that says, 'I just want to thank you and [Fahrenkopf] and his family for giving me this chance I wouldn't have had otherwise,' and being able to hand that letter to his mom and his grandma, that's been pretty wonderful — I think that's the coolest part for me. Every year when that happens, we get a new student out of the program, we get a new member of the crew, the family expands," Knapton said.

"And I think both [Fahrenkopf] and Rob would be proud of us for setting up something to make some change in the world," Bonnie said.

The brothers say their hope is to get the scholarship fund built up enough to eventually separate it and have individual scholarships for Fahrenkopf and Robert. They are also coming up with some additional criteria for the next student they award, to help honor the things Robert enjoyed, like they did for Farhenkofp.

If you would like to help the fundraiser, donations can be made online, or by check made to Clarkson University with the memo "Fahrenkopf-Dyson Scholarship." 

The group would also like to thank Lyon's Lake Restaurant and Pub for hosting the fundraiser on Sunday.