Ilya Zhitomirskiy, 22, Diaspora* co-founder and Lower Merion high grad, dies in apparent suicide, services Sunday

Center City memorial services are scheduled Sunday for Ilya Zhitomirskiy, the co-founder of the much-hyped Facebook killer Diaspora*.

Coverage by the New York Times and Gawker recount the unsettling possibility that the apparent suicide could have been precipitated by, at least in part, the hype around the more secure, community-driven social network that had thus far failed to have any real traction. Though Zhitomirskiy’s death happened in San Francisco, the Inquirer dutifully reminds us that the Moscow-born New York University dropout spent part of his childhood in Lower Merion and graduated from that high school.

Officially, suicide and other details have not been confirmed, though multiple reports are pointing in that direction.

As the Inquirer reports: “The memorial service for Zhitomirskiy will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 20, at the First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street.”

Update on passing of Carole I. Smith mayor’s Commission on Technology director

Details on the memorial services for and a scholarship fund on behalf of Carole I. Smith, the executive director of the Mayor’s Commission on Technology who died last Monday, have been announced.

Smith, 67, passed from complications related to pancreatic cancer. She is survived by her daughter Narissa Wallace, who is married with two children.

Supporters can celebrate Smith’s life at a memorial service to be held at 10 a.m. Sat. Jan 23, inside the Community College of Philadelphia’s Bonnell Building auditorium on 17th Street between Callowhill and Spring Garden streets. The internment will be private.

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Carole I. Smith, Mayor’s Commission on Technology director, 67

This has been updated here.

Carole I. Smith, a radio personality, columnist, entrepreneur and educator who advised the city on technology policy, passed Monday evening, a friend told Technically Philly today. She was 67.

Educated at Yale University, Occidental College and Temple University, according to an archived biography, Smith was most recently the executive director of the Mayor’s Commision on Technology, hosting a monthly Web cast and weekly radio show in that capacity.

Comment from her family or the mayor’s office was not immediately available. This story will be updated as information comes in. Cause of death was not disclosed.

On Wednesdays on 900 AM WURD, Smith hosted Carole’s Technology Corner, discussing mostly national gadget and trend stories with various guests from the region and beyond.