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Dimitrius Tank Jackson remembered as a jokester
Friends say man was trying to graduate in December with occupational therapy degree
By Stephanie Brien
Tank wearing his trademark floppy hat and stunna sunglasses with his friend Omorinsola Awosika.
Friends will always remember the way Dimitrius Tank Jackson was always cracking jokes.
If everyone in the club gets tipsy, whos going to be the designated driver? Ramond Combs, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, still laughs at that joke as he remembers Tank making when he first met him in 2003 during his freshman year at UWM.
This semester Tank was taking some time off to make money for himself and his 8-month-old daughter. He was trying to graduate next December in occupational therapy, his friends said. But he will never be able to graduate from UWM.
On Friday, April 6, Tank attended a dance sponsored by the Black Student Union, collapsed and died shortly thereafter. Preliminary autopsy results show it was likely from an enlarged heart.
From his big Stella sunglasses, flannel pajama pants, floppy winter hat and his trademark Ninja Turtle jacket, he had a distinct style. Friends said they will always remember his deep baritone voice.
He shook his voice and made his voice vibrate, Combs said.
Tank used his voice as an advantage at parties, too. Josh Harwell, who was friends with Tank since high school, said they would often tell jokes together at parties. Hed be the one to spray it all over the room.
Tank graduated from Riverside University High School in 2003. Other than cracking jokes in class, Harwell said Tank was a responsible guy and never got into any big trouble in school.
For a couple years in high school, Tank played basketball and he continued to play in the Klotsche Center throughout college. Harwell, who is an athletic training student at UWM, often hung out around the Klotsche Center when Tank was playing basketball.
He said whenever Tank would run over to the side of the court he was standing on, he would talk to him until he needed to run back to the other side.
The funeral was held Friday, April 13, at the African-American Womens Center on 3020 W. Vilet St. in Milwaukee.
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