Body found in UCI faculty housing area was an assistant researcher

Irvine police on Friday identified the man whose body was found floating in a Jacuzzi at UC Irvine’s faculty housing area as a 37-year-old assistant researcher.

Another resident found Andrea Silvestri’s body between 10:30 and 11 a.m. Thursday, said Lt. Julia Engen.

Silvestri was an assistant researcher in UCI’s physics and astronomy department, Engen said in an e-mail.

“He was a beloved man by everyone on campus,” his widow, Melanie Matheu, said in a statement issued by Irvine police. “He was tenacious in his research and was an adventurous and vivacious man.”

The cause of death is still under investigation pending a toxicology report.

— Lauren Williams