Glendale middle school remembers teacher who died of heart attack last week
Students and staff at Rosemont Middle School began the week mourning the loss of a teacher who died on Friday after suffering a massive heart attack, according to Kelly King, assistant superintendent of Glendale Unified.
Mark Sanderl became ill at Rosemont Friday afternoon and was taken to USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, where he died at 2:30 p.m. He was 43 years old.
Sanderl began teaching at Rosemont in 2002 and, most recently, taught computer-literacy and computer-application courses to seventh- and eighth-graders, said Rosemont Principal Cynthia Livingston.
She said he encouraged students to think about their passion and taught them how to use computers as a tool to realize their life goals.
“He taught kids how to do some important real-life jobs. He taught them how to fill out a resume with a computer, to create a business plan for themselves, set up a fictitious business,” she said.
They also learned how to set up company payroll systems and employee insurance plans.
“Kids loved him,” Livingston said, adding that he was “a great man and a great friend to all.”
Sanderl, who was the father of two young children, had also coached basketball and was a fan of the Duke University Blue Devils.
One of his dreams came true this year, Livingston said, when he met the team’s coach, Mike Krzyzewski, widely known as “Coach K.”
On Monday, Rosemont employees were sending emails to each other sharing their experiences working with Sanderl.
Livingston plans to deliver the memories to Sanderl’s wife.
“Each person on the staff has Mark Sanderl stories that the teachers have been sharing back forth over school email today, which has been beautiful,” she said.
Students were also encouraged to share their memories,
Also, school psychologists were on hand to meet with students and staff, if needed.
By Tuesday afternoon, dozens of people had begun donating money to Sanderl’s family through GoFundMe at gofund.me/SanderlFamily.
According to the site, Sanderl had moved his family into a new home the day before he died.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, at 1879 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena, King said.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the American Heart Assn., at 816 S. Figueroa St. in Los Angeles, or to La Salle High School, at 3880 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., in Pasadena.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
