Sharif Darryl Walker-El Jr.

Sharif Darryl Walker-El Jr., often called “Reef” by those close to him, was a son and brother whose life mattered deeply to family and friends in the Twin Cities. Public accounts and family organizers describe him as someone his sister called funny, kind and protective — traits that family members used to remember the everyday ways he showed care.

Sharif lived in St. Paul and, like many people in the neighborhood, was part of a web of loved ones who relied on one another. In the days after his passing, family members reached out to the community for support; his sister Kentrell Anthony organized a GoFundMe titled “Remembering Sharif” to help the family with funeral costs and immediate needs. That fundraiser and the family’s public messages underscore the scale of the loss felt at home: his mother and siblings, who remember him by the nickname Reef, and a wider circle of friends and neighbors mourning a life cut short.

News reports identify Sharif as 33 years old at the time of his death and note that his family planned a celebration of his life in mid-December 2024. Those planning efforts reflect a family’s wish to honor him with music, words, and gatherings in a familiar community setting. Progressive Baptist Church in St. Paul was listed as the location for the family’s remembrance service.

Public records and reporting about Sharif focus respectfully on who he was to his family and on the family’s search for comfort and practical help after a sudden loss. While details of his work, education, or private interests are not present in the public record consulted for this notice, the verified items — his given name, his age, his hometown, his sister’s caring description, the family fundraiser, and plans for a memorial service — sketch a portrait of a man who mattered to people who loved him.

This page honors Sharif by centering those human connections: the laughter and protection his sister recalled, the family who gathered to remember him, and the community members who offered support. He is remembered here not by the circumstances of his death but by the relationship he held in life and the tangible ways his family sought to keep his memory alive.