Round Rock’s McNeil High School Alumnus David Grossman Dies at Abilene Christian University
The Abilene, Texas community and the campus of Abilene Christian University are grieving the sudden loss of David Grossman, known warmly to friends and family as DJ.
The young man from Round Rock, Texas, had built a life full of laughter, loyalty, and genuine connection in the years before his passing, leaving behind a trail of people who considered themselves fortunate to have known him.
DJ grew up in Round Rock, where he attended McNeil High School and graduated with the class of 2023. By all accounts, he was the kind of person who drew others toward him effortlessly.
The comments flooding his social media in the hours after news of his death spread paint a picture of someone beloved not just by a few close friends, but by an entire orbit of people who each felt, in some way, that DJ was their person.
“Rest well, brotha,” wrote one friend. Another simply said, “I will miss you dearly, my good friend.”
A Wildcat Through and Through
In August 2023, DJ enrolled at Abilene Christian University, and the school became his second home. He returned for his junior year in the fall of 2025, dropped off by his mother, Rachelle Grossman, who shared the moment online with unmistakable pride.
“Go do great things, DJ,” she wrote. “We know this will be your best semester yet.” It was the kind of send-off that spoke to a family deeply invested in who he was becoming and who he still had time to be.
Friends at ACU remembered him as someone who inspired others simply by being himself. One peer wrote that they aspired to be an “image bearer” like DJ, a phrase that suggests he carried himself with a certain purpose and light.
Another said bluntly, “I want to be a Grossman when I grow up,” capturing the easy admiration those around him seemed to feel.
More Than a Moment
Beyond school, DJ worked at a local establishment, spent summers making memories worth photographing, and showed up for the people in his life in the quiet, consistent ways that matter most.
His Instagram, where he posted a photo dump spanning the summer of 2024 through the present, became a gathering place for grief after his passing. Friends and acquaintances, some from years back, came together in the comments to remember him.
The Grossman family, including his mother Rachelle, his aunt Ali, and his sister Kaylee, have been surrounded by an outpouring of love since news broke.
DJ was also connected to a wider faith community, and the values of honesty, warmth, and genuine care for others were clearly ones he lived out in daily life.
He was a junior in college. He had his whole story still being written. To everyone who knew DJ Grossman, the silence he leaves behind is loud, and the love they carry for him is louder.
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