This weekend, family and friends are mourning the loss of Adrian Rodriguez, the Marta Valle High School senior, who was killed in a subway accident Friday morning. In an email message to parents, Principal Mimi Fortunato said tomorrow will be a “day of support” for grieving students.
She indicated a viewing will take place Thursday from 3-9pm at the Ortiz Funeral Home, 22 East 1st Avenue. A memorial service will be held at Marta Valle, 145 Stanton Street, on Thursday April 14th at 6pm.
Rodriguez, who lived in the Bronx, was rushing to school when he fell or collapsed on the Union Square subway platform. According to witnesses, a train hit him in the head. Rodriguez was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he died yesterday.
Rodriguez was an aspiring chef. He had just won a cooking award and was training for a competition that could have led to a scholarship at the Culinary Institute.
Kwame Onwuachi, who was a mentor to Rodriguez, told the Daily News: “Adrian will be greatly missed. He touched a lot of people’s hearts… He had everything going for him. He was following his dreams.” Laura Cuautle, a fellow student, said, “It’s going to be hard for kids at school to deal with this… He used to help everyone out in class because he was so good at cooking … he was one of the most generous people.”
So very sad. He seemed to be such a sweet boy. Very few stories of strangers stay with you. This one surely does. The poor dear! :*-(
God bless Adrian and his family