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Five more victims of Tuesday’s Amtrak crash identified

A crowd gathered Thursday during a memorial at Medgar Evers College to mourn the loss of Derrick E. Griffith. ebeto Matthews/Associated Press

In addition to those identified Wednesday, five more people were named as victims of the Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia.

GIUSEPPE PIRAS

Giuseppe Piras, a wine and olive oil executive from Sardinia, Italy, was in the United States on business, officials said.

The Italian consulate in Philadelphia confirmed that Piras was among the victims. He was 41.

Piras, who was from the town of Ittiri on the Mediterranean island, cofounded an olive oil and wine cooperative and was tasked with marketing its goods for export, according to Italian media.

LAURA FINAMORE

Laura Finamore, 47, was returning to New York City from a memorial service for a college friend’s mother, a spokesman for her family said.

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The Manhattan resident had texted her mother that she was boarding the train. Her parents saw stories about the crash at about midnight Tuesday and began making calls to area hospitals looking for her.

Born in Queens, Finamore worked in corporate real estate and was a senior account director at Cushman & Wakefield.

‘‘Laura was a tenacious deal maker and competitor who never backed down from what she thought was right,’’ her family said in a statement.

ROBERT GILDERSLEEVE

Bob Gildersleeve, who lived near Baltimore, was a vice president of a food-safety company called Ecolab.

Gildersleeve had worked for the company for 22 years, most recently as vice president of corporate accounts for institutional business in North America. The company issued a statement saying it had been notified of his death.

‘‘Bob was an exceptional leader and was instrumental to our success. We will greatly miss him, and our thoughts go out to his beloved family members and friends,’’ the firm said.

Gildersleeve’s family had traveled to Philadelphia after the crash, circulating his photo and information about what he was wearing, hoping that he was only missing.

DERRICK GRIFFITH

Derrick Griffith, dean of student affairs and enrollment management at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, N.Y., believed in education — for himself as well as others.

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He was a former school principal who founded the City University of New York Preparatory Transitional High School in 2003. He was also the executive director of Groundwork Inc., an organization formed to support young people living in poor urban communities.

A month ago, the 42-year-old received a doctorate in urban education from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Princess Steele, 22, said Griffith inspired her to attend college when she was working at the school but not enrolled.

‘‘He just had a passion for education,’’ she said. ‘‘He was so invested in it. And he wanted to help people — especially black people — just get ahead and succeed.’’

RACHEL JACOBS

Rachel Jacobs, a leader in the worker-training and development industry, was commuting home to New York from her new job as chief executive of the Philadelphia educational software startup ApprenNet.

The 39-year-old mother of a 2-year-old son had worked at McGraw-Hill, leading the expansion of the company’s career-learning business into China, India, and the Middle East, and Ascend Learning, another education-technology firm.

Jacobs is the daughter of Gilda Jacobs, a former Michigan state senator and current chief executive of the Michigan League for Public Policy.

The family said in a statement that Rachel Jacobs ‘‘was a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, wife, and friend’’ who was devoted to family and social justice.

She was a founder and board chairwoman at Detroit Nation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting startups.

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Through the organization, Jacobs helped bring the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to New York for its first concert at Carnegie Hall in 17 years.