Brian Hegarty ’95 on June 1, 2009. Hegarty, 35, had recently been named to head St. Clare Catholic School in Santa Clara as principal beginning in August. But Monday morning, after he didn’t show up at school, he was discovered dead in his home. The coroner is still investigating the cause of death. Santa Clara police say they found nothing suspicious.  "The entire community is devastated," said principal Kathy Almazol. "Students say he’s the best teacher they ever had. Parents say he’s their favorite teacher."  He understood well both the mission of Catholic schools, she said, as well as the challenges of middle-schoolers. In his classroom, through discussions of current events, morality and faith, he tried to "raise students into adults that would make decisions based on conscience, commitment and compassion," Almazol said.  Hegarty’s death came during the most festive and chaotic week of school, with eighth-graders celebrating their final school Mass tonight, then graduating Thursday. The eighth-graders started a Facebook memorial page in his honor and wrote notes about him on a big poster that hangs outside his classroom.  "Having a positive adult male role model at our school, especially for the middle school — he was just one of those guys that was cool," said Sheila Dowd, vice chair of the school’s parent teacher group. "He always had a smile on his face and was the first to volunteer. He was just a good soul."  Hegarty grew up in Phoenix and graduated from the Jesuit-run Brophy High School there, but he was considered a "local boy" here. He graduated from Santa Clara University with a master’s degree and earned his doctorate in education at the University of San Francisco. He began teaching at St. Clare in 1999.