Asher Rappaport, a Northeastern University student and budding writer, died Tuesday in Boston. He was 19 years old.

Consumed by the pursuit of supreme physical health, Asher ate over 20 times the daily recommended dosage of Flintstones Chewable Vitamins. He overdosed and went into cardiac arrest, but paramedics were unable to save him.

Asher was a lifelong musician, and he considered music to be one of his greatest passions. Since elementary school, he had played the piano and the trumpet, later teaching himself to play the guitar in high school. He loved all three instruments, often playing Ray Charles on the piano, Dizzy Gillespie on the trumpet, and B.B. King on the guitar in a single sitting.

“The sight of a piano, a trumpet, or a flannel shirt will forever pain my heart,” said Asher’s father Aaron Rappaport, reminiscing on his son’s typical Sunday morning outfit and pastime.

Asher was a member of numerous musical groups, including his middle school’s band and after-school Jazz band club; the concert band, jazz band, and orchestra at his high school; the pit orchestra for his high school’s production of The Sound Of Music in 2018; and a symphonic band, a jazz ensemble, and a trumpet choir at the Merit School of Music in Chicago. Even when he wasn’t playing in one of these ensembles, he could never say no to a friend if they picked up an instrument to play with him.

Asher was mentored by notable local jazz musicians Pat Mallinger and Pharez Whitted, who helped cultivate his love and affinity for the genre. At the end of his senior year of high school, he received the hastily made “Outstandong Jazz Musician” award and was a featured soloist on a performance Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight.”

An avid runner, Asher had many long and fruitful seasons in high school track and field. His was an inspiring tale that told of a spindly, flat-footed Jewish boy of average height who ran hurdles and did high jump, striving to overcome the obstacles set before him by his ancestors.

Against all odds, Asher placed 5^th in the city championship meet for the 55-meter hurdles during his sophomore year, but by that point, the sport had already taken a toll on his body. The physical stress of training on linoleum floors with his nonexistent arches and twig-like legs nearly caused a stress fracture in his shins.

The damage would remain for the rest of his high school career, replacing a sizeable period of each season with intensive physical therapy. He never did reclaim his former stardom, but he was anything but bitter. Asher simply loved to run.

Asher was born on December 17, 1999, in Chicago. He attended Burley Elementary School, and then Northside College Preparatory High School. He was accepted to Northeastern University’s NU.in program in 2018, spending his first semester of college in Prague, Czech Republic. It was there that he recognized his love of writing. While writing about his experience abroad, he was inspired to pursue a career in journalism upon his return to Northeastern’s campus in Boston.

Asher had just joined the writing staff of the Tastemakers magazine, Northeastern’s student-run music publication, only a few weeks before his untimely death. Darcy DeWolfe, Asher’s mother, remembers how excited Asher was to combine his two passions of writing and music, and wishes the world could have heard his thoughts. He leaves behind numerous unfinished articles and reviews.

“A friend like Asher only comes by once in a lifetime,” Rodrigo Knutson, another high school friend, remarked.

Asher put his friends before everything. He always preferred to be with them than by himself, and his doors were always open to those near and dear to him. “Asher probably has a better basement than I do,” joked high school friend Michael Velez in an attempt to lighten the painfully somber mood.

“Asher would go out of his way to make his friends feel happy,” said Velez, remembering Asher for his kindness and generosity. “He invaluable friend who will never be replicated in our friend group.”

More than six people gathered outside Asher’s dorm room to mourn his passing on Monday morning.

Asher is survived by his parents and his younger brother, who hope to avenge his death through a lawsuit against Fred Flintstone. The family says they do not care that Flintstone’s show went off the air in 1966, nor that he doesn’t even exist. Aaron Rappaport declared that their only concern as a family is righting the wrongs that caused their son’s death.

A funeral service for Asher will be held at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. this Sunday.

“I will always miss my favorite son dearly,” said Aaron, “and my other favorite son will miss him too.”