Family and friends of slain American diplomat John Granville will gather for his funeral today outside his hometown of Buffalo and are working to preserve his memory by creating a scholarship fund at the Jesuit high school he attended as a young man.

Granville, 33, an official for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Khartoum, Sudan, and his driver Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, 39, were fatally shot on New Year’s Day by unknown assailants who opened fire on their car as the two left a party. Following the incident, President Bush dispatched a joint team of Diplomatic Security and FBI officers to assist the Sudanese government in tracking down the murderers, and American and Sudanese officials are reportedly close to naming a suspect in the murders of Messrs. Granville and Rahama.

It was not immediately clear at the time whether the attack was an act of random violence or organized terrorism. Now, an Al Qaeda-linked group in Sudan, Ansar Al-Tawhid has said it was responsible for the attack, according to the Associated Press, although American officials cannot yet confirm the claim’s accuracy.

The administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, Henrietta Fore, praised Granville for his service in a phone interview yesterday and will speak at today’s funeral.

“John had a particular gift in democracy building and it is one that will be greatly missed,” Ms. Fore said.

Ms. Fore said that she was being regularly updated on FBI and Diplomatic Security efforts to track down Granville’s killers.

“They have been conducting in-depth interviews in Sudan and we anticipate they will in time have a report,” she said.

Granville’s alma mater, Canisius High School, is collecting donations for a fund in his name to help less well-off children pay tuition at the Catholic school — assistance that Granville received when he was a young student.

“His family and friends called me the day he died and said they would like to set this up for him,” the school’s president, Father Jim Higgins, said in a phone interview. “He had vision and commitment to help all God’s people. The best way to tell that story is to establish a scholarship to let other students tell their story and help continue the work he did in his life in their lives.”

Granville took various jobs after school and over the summer to help pay for his education at Canisius. He made his mark there as an honor student and a participant in school activities, such as the yearbook committee.

A friend of Granville’s family, Jinna Gallivan, also emphasized the importance of the school in shaping the man.

“It was the family’s first thought because it meant so much to go to the high school,” Ms. Gallivan said in a phone interview Monday. “The family didn’t have the means really to pay and it was so important to them that he go there.”

Ms. Gallivan described his relationship with his school as “his strongest friendship.” Eleven of Granville’s high school classmates will serve as pallbearers at Granville’s funeral today.