Berkeley High School (BHS) alumni Aidan Price, class of 2019, Kerry Reid, class of 2020, and Eli Kane, class of 2019, passed away this summer.
Aidan Price
Price died on June 20, Reid on June 25, and Kane on July 15. BHS Principal Juan Raygoza informed the community of Price’s and Reid’s passing through email on July 8, and of Kane’s on July 16.
Price’s obituary, published in Berkeleyside, reported that he had just finished his freshman year at Carleton College in Minnesota before he died.
Price played trumpet and piano in the BHS Jazz Band, and was on the BHS ultimate frisbee team, High Coup, when it attended the 2019 National Championship. Leo Gordon, Price’s friend and 2019 BHS graduate, said Price was “incredibly musically talented” and “incredibly caring.” In his senior year, Price was assistant musical director for the school musical, Carrie, and helped Gordon prepare for his audition.
“At one moment he could be so random, trying to make people laugh,” Gordon said. “But, in a second he was this incredible teacher who knew exactly what I needed to feel comfortable singing.”
Price formed a small ultimate frisbee group named Coupbacca, with Gordon and other teammates. “He was a really loving person and he showed it,” Gordon said. “He loved giving hugs, and he started our tradition of being physically affectionate with each other and being open with our emotions in our little Coupbacca group.”
Kerry Reid
BHS Lead Intervention Counselor Jasdeep Malhi said Reid was “funny, sweet and kind.” Malhi was Reid’s counselor for four years.
“Of all my students, he taught me how to be a counselor, how to continue to engage with students and that all students will engage with some level of counseling if the relationship is there,” Malhi said.
Before his passing, Reid was in a UPS training program. During high school, he was a proctor for On Campus Intervention.
“He was there whenever you needed him to do anything,” Malhi said. “We would make him run around or ask him to grab things, and he would say, ‘That’s going to cost you extra Ms. Malhi.’ He went above and beyond to make sure stuff got done.”
Malhi also said Reid was empathetic, and stood up for his peers. “I’m trying to coin this phrase of ‘carry yourself like a Kerry,’'' she said. “‘Do better’ is what sticks in my mind when I think about him.”
Eli Kane
Berkeleyside reported that Kane drowned at a spot along the Tuolumne River near Yosemite while working as a counselor at Camp Tawonga, a Jewish year-round camp. He was a student at the University of Michigan.
Berkeley International High School (BIHS) history teacher and co-lead teacher, Becky Villagran, said Kane was an “athlete and a scholar.” Kane played on the BHS varsity men’s soccer team with the team that won the North Coast Sectional (NCS) Championship in 2018.
“He was super dedicated to soccer, but he definitely cared about school, and that always came first,” she said. “He was a leader in the classroom.”
Villagran said Kane and his friends Kinlay Watkins and Seth Pierson were “like the three musketeers.” They were all in Villagran’s history class their senior year.
“One time he was working with his best friends on a project, and they made a team agreement to do ice breakers every time before working,” Villagran said. “I said ‘you guys have known each other for your whole lives, you don’t need to do that.’ They just loved each other.”
Reid’s family and friends held a celebration service for him on July 9. A tribute with photos and videos of Reid was also created. Camp Tawonga said on its Facebook page that Kane was honored at its Torah services on July 17. A public memorial service for Price will be held on August 1, and donations to honor him can be made with the Youth Musical Theatre Company (YMTC) or CURE Epilepsy at his donation page.