News

By Rich Pollack

    HIGHLAND BEACH — On Highland Beach’s Intracoastal Drive in the town’s tight-knit Bel Lido community, Erin Kane Rodriguez was known as a fun-loving neighbor, a rising young tennis star and an athlete full of energy, who always took her studies seriously.
    So it came as a shock to the whole community — especially the group of 14 young adults with whom she grew up — when neighbors learned that she died at home on Jan. 10, apparently as a result of an underlying medical condition. She was 20.
    “The whole neighborhood was in shock,” said Peggy Gossett-Seidman, a neighbor and close friend of the Rodriguez family. “We’re all still in shock.”
    A junior at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and co-captain of her school’s tennis team, Miss Rodriguez was home for the holidays and staying with her family an extra week in preparation for her team’s match with Florida Atlantic University.
    Members of the team, including those who made the trip for the match, were among more than 300 people from across the country who attended a Jan. 18 memorial service for Miss Rodriguez.
    “She reached a lot of people,” Gossett-Seidman said.
    A natural athlete, Miss Rodriguez started playing tennis competitively at 11 and was a fixture in national tournaments prior to receiving a full athletic scholarship to play for the Miami University RedHawks.
    “Erin was the sunshine of our team,” coach Yana Carollo told the Dayton Daily News. “She was funny, intelligent, compassionate and a very kind girl.”
    At one point in her playing career, Miss Rodriguez ranked sixth in the state and 27th in the nation in her age group.
    Although she had considered the possibility of playing tennis for a living, according to Gossett-Seidman, Miss Rodriguez was focused on academics, with a dual major in political science and business legal studies.
    A dean’s list student who was chosen to serve as an ambassador for the university’s College of Arts and Science, Miss Rodriguez planned to attend law school following her graduation, with a goal of becoming a prosecutor.
    “She was quiet and serious in her studies but with the other kids in the neighborhood she was just a bundle of energy,” Gossett-Seidman said. “She was always upbeat and smiling.”
    Miss Rodriguez is survived by her parents, Jorge and Judi; her younger brother, Matthew; grandparents Tom and Dorothy Kane; grandmother Miriam Rodriguez; uncle and aunt John and Suzanne Kane; godparents Jose and Rita Mendez, and many cousins.
    A scholarship fund has been established at Miami University in her memory. Make contributions payable to the Erin Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship, and mail to Miami University, 725 E.  Chestnut St., Oxford, OH 45056. To contribute online, visit www.forloveandhonor.org/givetomu.