A much-beloved professor has died from injuries he suffered during a hit-and-run earlier this month.

Michael Shea, an English professor at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), died in the hospital on Saturday morning after he was struck by an e-bike in New Haven on October 9. 

The e-bike crashed into Shea around 9pm while he was crossing the street with his wife, who was not hit or injured, police told NBC Connecticut. 

The rider immediately fled, and police have yet to identify or arrest him. 

After Shea died, the New Haven Police Department said it was requesting the public's assistance in identifying the suspect in the fatal hit-and-run, who was described as a 5'7" black male in his teens or early 20s with a stocky build. 

Police did not identify Shea, but he was confirmed as the victim by an SCSU spokesperson in a statement to CT Insider. 

'For decades, Mike has been a walking, talking reminder of what’s best about this place: the way we teach, the way we ask questions, the way we care for one another,' SCSU English Chair Cynthia Stretch told the outlet. 

'There was not a cynical bone in his body. Mike showed us what service to our students, to our colleagues, and to our university could be and why it matters.' 

'He taught his students that there was nothing more exciting than learning to understand what they didn’t think they could,' Stretch continued. 'He will be so deeply missed by his friends and by the legions of students whose lives he touched.' 

The English chair also told NBC Connecticut that the news of Shea's death was shocking and devastated the campus community, as they had all been hoping for his recovery since the hit-and-run.  

Shea's colleagues and students shared heartbreaking tributes to the beloved professor on social media, which painted a picture of a funny, intelligent man and devoted educator.

Dawn DeMeo, a high school English teacher who identified herself as one of Shea's former students, said: 'It was impossible to be a student of Mike Shea and not become his friend.

'From the Shakespeare classroom to solstice parties on his lawn, Mike invited you in and let you stay as long as you needed. Techniques he taught me for teaching Shakespeare I still use today.

'His enthusiasm and dedication to his students and education have been a model to me. His presence and all he contributed to the SCSU and New Haven communities will be sorely missed.'

Regina Misercola, another former student, said: 'To know Prof. Mike Shea was to know dynamite... Rarely, perhaps, does a teacher become a mentor and a friend. For Mike, this was part of his pedagogy.

'He simply wanted to give his students an experience that just might change their worldview, mind, and life. He changed mine... He was giddy and goofy, and entirely sincere. He listened deeply and celebrated every student. 

'He inspired both deep contemplation and daily celebration, and it feels only fitting that this is how I will miss, remember, honor, and love Mike Shea.'

Tim Parrish, one of Shea's colleagues in the English department, said: 'The world is infinitely poorer today as my exceptional friend and colleague of thirty-two years, Mike Shea, has died of injuries from a hit-and-run by an e-bike.

'Mike was the face of SCSU's faculty and a selfless champion of the humanities. He went to the wall for students (it's impossible to say how much he's loved and how many lives he changed).

'He leaves not a hole, but a kind of desert in my heart, but it won't last. Mike was the Johnny Appleseed of love, care, activism, and creativity, and what he sowed will keep sprouting forever.'