Since Fez was my friend and not a family member, I don't have a record of the exact details of his life. However, because I knew him for many years, I can at least create a loose outline of things and hopefully others can fill in additional details.

This is what I know:

February 15, 1982: Fez was born in France, where his parents were working at the time. I don't know exactly how long they stayed there, but I know they left when Fez was young enough that he had no memory of living in France. (Later, he would tell me funny stories of being asked "Why were you born in France?" by customs officials.)

Elementary school: From the time his family left France up until his teen years, Fez lived in India. I don't remember the town or state, but I'm pretty sure it was in the north of India.

High school: When Fez was a teenager, his family moved to the area of Rochester, Minnesota, United States, where he attended Mayo Senior High School and graduated in 1999. This is where he got the nickname Fez, since "That 70s Show" was popular in the US at the time - the foreign exchange student character on the show was named Fez.

Later, we found the following definition of "Fez" on Urban Dictionary, which Fez found really funny because it is exactly how people usually perceived him:

"A foreigner of undistinguishable ethnicity. Usually, with a seemingly generic foreign accent and tan coloered skin. Based on the character from That 70's Show with a changed spelling acronym for foreign exchange student.

Habib-Fang is such a Fez! I have no idea where the hell he's from!"

Mayo Clinic and Undergrad: From 2001-2002, Fez worked as an intern at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. During some sort of routine screening the Mayo Clinic offered, Fez was diagnosed with the genetic illness that eventually took his life. I'm not sure if this illness even has a name; my understanding is that it is quite rare. What I do know is that it seemed to be some kind of lipid storage problem. It was many years ago that Fez told me about this illness, but what I recall him saying is that his body seemed to store fat in his organs rather than subcutaneously (under the skin). He was also told that no one (or almost no one?) with this illness had been known to live past middle age. If anyone has further information about the nature of Fez's illness, please speak up so that his loved ones can participate in fundraising and awareness efforts.

Meanwhile, Fez studied computer science at Winona State University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2002.

Back to India: When I met Fez in 2002, he and his family had returned to India. I don't know what he was doing there in terms of work or school, but I do know he was unhappy there and looking for a way to move on to better things.

What I remember about Fez when I met him is that he was very bright and interested in science and politics, but he wasn't the lover of pop culture that he became later on. I know he was interested in video games, but he knew very little music. In fact, it was because I wanted to share more music with Fez that I bought my first CD burner so I could mail him a mix CD. Ironically, years later he would send me an old iPod of his containing thousands of songs from all genres of music. But back in 2002, he was still discovering what he liked.

Grad school in Manchester: It was probably about 2003 when Fez was accepted to graduate school in Manchester, UK. I remember he really enjoyed life in Manchester and made lots of friends there. From his Facebook, I can see that he worked at the University of Manchester as a research assistant from 2004-2005, and that he received his master's degree in 2005. After this, I think his student visa expired and he was forced to find another country to live in.

Singapore: In late 2005, Fez moved to Singapore and began working in bioinformatics at National University of Singapore. At first, Fez really disliked living in Singapore and was looking for ways to get back to the UK. But over time, he grew to love Singapore and saw it as his home. He also enjoyed doing a lot of travel during his years in Singapore, making trips to Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United States, France, and possibly others I'm forgetting. He also made frequent weekend trips to Malaysia, especially for anime conventions, where he sometimes participated in elaborate cosplay.

Final days: In November 2013, Fez's ailing heart began to fail him. He ended up in a coma in the ICU, and eventually died on December 3, 2013, as friends from around the world grieved together across the internet.

Goodbye Fez. You will always be remembered and loved by so many.

Faraaz "Fez" Noor Khan Yusufi
15 February 1982 - 3 December 2013
Rest in Peace