SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (Times Union) — Draven Rodriguez, a quick-witted senior at Schenectady High School who made national news last fall when a proposed yearbook portrait of him with his cat against a background of laser beams went viral online, died Thursday at home. He was 17. The cause was suicide, his parents said.
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Although his humor and intelligence were readily apparent, Rodriguez was more cherished by family and schoolmates for his easy facility for friendship.
"He made friends wherever he went," said Rodriguez's father, Jonathan Stewart. "He had friends all over the country — people he'd met at youth-leadership conferences, online, just around town."
Among those was Reza Zand, co-owner of the Schenectady restaurant Persian Bite, which Rodriguez frequented partly for the food and partly to talk to Zand and his brother, Arousol, whose stories as emigres from Iran intrigued him.
In a Facebook post from Jan. 29, Rodriguez quoted Reza Zand as saying, "We are all people, and we should help each other out," then commented, "It was simple, but really powerful. He's definitely one of my favorite people in all of Schenectady."
"He had an empathy for the world and for other people that I think is rare in kids his age," said Stewart. "It was wonderful to see."
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Born Oct. 6, 1997, at Bellevue Hospital in Niskayuna, Rodriguez had his rebellious phase early: At 9, he wanted to dye his hair green, which his parents allowed as long as he brought home excellent grades. He kept his green locks until they no longer appealed to him, and by middle school his dark hair sported a short, preppy cut.
Rodriguez had omnivorous interests — teaching himself guitar, learning words from a Russian-English dictionary, rowing crew, making smoked ribs and other barbecue fare with Stewart, computers — and most were characterized by a single-minded determination to achieve what he set out to do. Which partly explains his briefly famous cat-and-lasers photo.
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"He wasn't trying to stir things up with it," said Stewart. "He honestly just wanted a silly photo because he had a great sense of humor." Working with Schenectady-based photographer Vincent Giordano, Rodriguez created an intentionally cheesy, laser-streaked portrait of himself holding Mr. Bigglesworth, a long, bushy stray cat who'd gotten into the family home and never left. Anticipating resistance from the school to his desire to have it included among the senior class' formal portraits, Rodriguez posted the photo online to garner support. It blazed around the Internet and was mentioned by Jimmy Fallon in a "Tonight Show" monologue and by talk-show host Ellen Degeneres.
Citing school policy, Schenectady High's principal, Diane Wilkinson, rejected it for the portraits section but participated in the making of a similar photo in which she posed with her rescue Chihuahua, Rodriguez, and he with Mr. Bigglesworth. It will get its own page in the yearbook with a message about the importance of adopting pets through shelters and rescue organizations. Stewart said Friday he believed the page still would be in the yearbook.
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Rodriguez's Facebook posts ranged from thoughts on world affairs to struggling with the lid on a jar of peanut butter to his latest efforts on guitar, all delivered with proper spelling and punctuation, including a correct deployment of hyphens that was atypical for someone his age.
"He was a grammar Nazi," said Stewart with a laugh. "He'd always find mistakes on signs, menus — 'Look, they're not using the apostrophe right!' He loved the English language."
In middle school, Rodriguez so frequently corrected mistakes by an English teacher that, when an observer was coming to the class for the day, she asked him to refrain, at least verbally. According to Stewart, the teacher told Rodriguez, "Please don't say anything during class. If you want to, you can write down any mistakes and show it to me afterward." He did.
Rodriguez is survived by Stewart; his mother, Melissa Petersen-Stewart; his 11-year-old sister, Lily Stewart; his biological father, Eric Rodriguez, and the Rodriguez family; and many other family members. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Friday night.
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