It is dark in a bar in downtown Tuscaloosa. Michael Tant is wearing a rugged-looking vest he had just bought. Zachary Koch, a friend of his, tells him he likes the vest.

“How much do you want to pay for it?” Tant says, joking.

“Here’s $40,” Koch says. “I’ll give you $40 for it right now.”

“Zach, I only paid $20 for it at Plato’s closet,” Tant says.

“Well, take it off and give it to me right now, and I’ll give you 40 bucks,” Koch says.

Tant takes off the vest and gives it to Koch.

“I swear, seeing all the pictures of him after he passed, of how many pictures he had with that vest on, I was like, ‘oh my gosh,’ ” said Tant, a senior majoring in operations management. “Even wearing the vest with a short sleeve shirt or something that didn’t even go with it… He loved it. I guess I never knew how much he loved that vest until I saw all those pictures.”

Family, friends and colleagues mourn the loss of Koch, a 24-year-old recent graduate of The University of Alabama. He was the creative director for the Education Policy Center. Koch died in a single-vehicle crash on March 20.

Tant and Koch knew each other through mutual friends since freshman year of high school, but never really spent time together until college. In college, Koch came to Tant’s house a lot, and they became friends.

Tant said one night at midnight, he and his friends, including Koch, were shooting rifles. Koch didn’t have a gun.

“Zach was like, ‘dude, I’ll give you five dollars if you let me shoot your gun five times,’ ” Tant said.

Tant handed him the gun, and he shot at a barn.

“The look in his eyes after Zach unloaded that rifle was just like, ‘Okay, Zach, hand me the rifle back now, you’re scaring me here,’ ” Tant said, laughing. “ ‘You look way too excited about that.’ He enjoyed to just do new things.”

Tant said sometimes he’d ask Koch what he did last night, and Koch would talk about what he did with people Tant had never even heard of. He had more friends than anyone knew, Tant said.

“What was so unique about Zach is, most people you know, for instance, have a certain group of people they hang out with, or a group of people they fit in with,” Tant said. “Zach, I guess you could say, didn’t fit in with any [one group] distinctly, he fit in with all of them at the same time.”

Jake Warner, assistant director of the Education Policy Center, said that as an undergrad, Koch worked towards a bachelor of fine arts with a concentration in graphic design and a minor in digital photography.

“He was very passionate about this line of work and certainly a very talented individual,” Warner said. “He was someone I trusted to produce high-quality work. More than that though, I’m someone who, when I go into the office, I get frustrated sometimes, and Zach was always the kind of guy to say, ‘hey man, that doesn’t seem very productive to be frustrated. What can I do to help you get through this problem?’ ”

Warner said Koch took pictures for the Elliott Society, an honor society on campus dedicated to social justice. The Elliott Society does a service initiative called Kick Start College, which invites middle school students to tour campus and teaches them about college. Koch, Warner said, was very involved in this initiative and was always behind the camera at these events.

The kids loved him and were so excited when he’d take their pictures, Warner said.

“He was very passionate about giving back to the community,” Warner said. “He just had a great energy and a way of connecting with people.”

Warner said Koch was also a passionate musician and played guitar locally at venues with open microphone nights and with friends.

“He was definitely a man of very intense passions,” Warner said. “Photography, music, graphic design, art and community service. Fortunately, he got to work in the industry that he loved, and even in his short years, he had an immense impact on the community and the University.”

Michael Malley, assistant director of the Education Policy Center and president of the Elliott Society, said Koch was wonderful for both the Education Policy Center and the Elliott Society.

“He was so charismatic,” Malley said. “He always cared about the little things and the details and was always there. When anyone had an issue, they always brought it to Zach. He was kind of just that person.”

Malley said that if he could tell Koch’s family one thing, it would be that Koch might not have always beaten him to the office, but he always beat him to Kick Start College.

“He was so wonderful with the kids,” he said. “He really made taking a picture fun. They loved him and he loved them, and I don’t know that his family or anybody got to see that side of Zach, but he was dedicated to the greater good, and he loved it. I don’t know that I’d ever seen Zach as happy as he was [interacting with the kids].”

Malley said in Koch’s time in this world, he made an impact on the lives of many. He was there for people.

“That is maybe the biggest and most profound impact, because you look at his funeral and there were so many people who’s lives he touched,” Malley said. “He changed the world through little acts of love and kindness. I think we all too often have our eyes set on the bigger picture, and so we don’t take a minute to just listen and be there for somebody. That’s what changes their life. He was the best at that.”

Steve Katsinas, director of the Education Policy Center, wrote a memorial for Koch.

“Zach had a warm presence and a smile for all who he came in contact,” the memorial read. “His kind heart and caring soul will be missed. My colleagues at the Education Policy Center, and I know he will rest in peace; we hope his family will be comforted in the sure knowledge of his positive impact and love for others, especially young college hopefuls.”

In an interview with The Crimson White, Katsinas said his favorite memory of Koch was the Civil Rights Bus Tour in November 2015, which included members of both Alabama’s and Mississippi’s Education Policy Fellows. He was the videographer for the trip.

Tant said Koch was the type of person who never talked about himself and always wanted to hear about the people around him.

“It’s almost like he never talked about what he wanted to do,” Tant said. “He would always ask you what you wanted to do and tell you to do it.”