Shira Palmer-Sherman '02, the student hit by a car in Harvard Square Dec. 17, died early this morning at Mount Auburn Hospital. Palmer-Sherman, a history and literature concentrator and resident of Pforzheimer House, was 20.

Palmer-Sherman was active in Harvard theater and Harvard Hillel, where she was co-chair of the Hillel Dramatic Society.

"We're so saddened by this terrible and senseless tragedy," said Pforzheimer House co-master Sue McCarthy. "We are reassured by the response of this wonderful community. Everyone from the custodians to the University police to all the students, faculty and friends of Shira."

Palmer-Sherman's friends and family had kept up a round-the-clock vigil at her bedside in the hospital's intensive care unit. Police have said they don't believe alcohol was involved in the accident, which took place on Eliot Street, in front of Charlie's Kitchen.

Palmer-Sherman, a resident of Englewood, N.J., graduated from Horace Mann High School in 1998. She is survived by her parents, Joanne Palmer and Dr. Andrew Sherman, and her sister, Miriam Palmer-Sherman.

Her funeral will be held Sunday at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in Manhattan.