Daniel Cordero-Laske Obituary (2000 - 2021)

Born Jan 08, 2000, Daniel Cordero-Laske attended Herndon High School in Herndon, VA. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Daniel Cordero-laske.

Graduation Year	Class of 2018
Date of Birth	Jan 08, 2000
Date of Passing	Feb 26, 2021
About	Medical Student, 21, Who Loved Helping Others Dies Of COVID-19 Daniel Laske, 21, was a student in New York City and hoped to pursue a career in medicine and politics. Michael O'Connell, Patch Staff posted Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 4:05 pm ET Updated Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 4:10 pm ET HERNDON, VA — Daniel Laske, a 21-year-old graduate of Herndon High School, died on Feb. 26 of COVID-19. Known for helping others, the Hunter College student had only informed his family of the diagnosis the day before. "We, naturally, were going out of our minds with worry but he told us not to, since he was only suffering from a slight fever and muscle fatigue," Darius Laske, Daniel's father, said in an email. "He knew how to self-diagnose and promised to go to the hospital if he began experiencing respiratory stress or if his condition worsened. That was the last time we heard from him." Before graduating in 2018, Daniel Laske was a proud member of Herndon High's Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, according to his father. He also tutored Herndon Elementary School students in STEM after school. The following fall, Daniel Laske began his freshman year at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he was active in politics and community service. Upon completion of his freshman year, Daniel Laske was accepted into the Virginia-North Carolina Alliance 2019 Summer Research Program at the University of Virginia under a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation scholarship. Rather than spend his summer vacationing, he instead studied Bioinformatics at UVA under Prof. Nathan Sheffield. During his sophomore year, Daniel Laske worked as a resident attendant and was a member of VCU's Student Government Association. He was active in helping low income families find housing, among other endeavors. "Daniel enjoyed SGA so much that he decided to switch his major to political science and upon completion of sophomore year at VCU he decided to transfer to Hunter College in New York City," Darius Laske said. "His goal was to find a career where he could be involved with both medicine and politics." Last summer in Herndon, Daniel Laske and his family discussed the dangers of living in New York City during the pandemic. But, he chose to move there and study virtually at Hunter College. Daniel Laske did return to Herndon to visit family and friends for Thanksgiving and for his sister's birthday in December. During those visits, he reassured his family that he was taking all of the necessary precautions to stay safe. At the beginning of February 2021, he was excited to announce that he had started working as a medical assistant for CityMD in the Bronx, New York," Darius Laske said, in an email. "He would call almost every day to tell us stories about his adventures at work. I remember asking him if he was happy and his exact words were, 'Yeah Poppa, I'm happy.' He really loved helping others." To honor Daniel Laske's memory and continue his legacy of service to those in need, his family launched a GoFundMe account. Part of money raised will assist members of the Herndon High NJROTC. "As a member of NJROTC, some of his classmates were low income," Darius Laske said. "I'm going to put it how Daniel would say it to me. He would say, 'Pops, it's not fair. We have a field trip that costs $100 and some of my friends, their families can't afford to pay for it. So dig into your wallet and take some money out because we're going to pay for them.'" When Daniel Laske was applying to VCU, he told his father some of his classmates couldn't afford to pay for their college applications. The remainder of the money raised from the GoFundMe campaign will help to defray the costs of applying to VCU. Last Saturday, VCU invited the Laske family to Richmond for a memorial service at which three of Daniel's professors spoke. He will also be honored at Herndon High School's upcoming graduation ceremony for the NJROTC cadets. Daniel Laske is survived by his father Darius Laske, stepmother Fanny Laske-Salazar, and four sisters, Carla, Hadyn, Leslie, and Madison.
Events	https://patch.com/virginia/herndon/medical-student-21-who-always-helped-others-dies-covid-19