Yesterday in my newscast on WVUM, I reported that Andrew Koenig had been missing since February 14th. The son of Walter Koenig (the original Chekov from Star Trek), he was best known for his role as "Boner" on the 1980's sitcome Growing Pains. I grew up a big fan of Growing Pains (though don't get me started on Kirk Cameron these days, not so much a fan there) and so it was odd to hear about Koenig after so many years of not. This morning, I read that they found Koenig's body in Vancouver Park and that he had commit suicide. It's always sad when people die (and hell, people die every day who aren't famous at all and it's sad to anyone who knew them), and although some say ignorant things about how selfish someone is to take their own life, it was even sadder still to read that Walter Koenig's understood that his son must have been in a lot of pain.
I can't say I was a huge fan and follower of Koenig, because I hadn't really thought about him since my youthful days of Growing Pains re-runs. However, reading over his life, I'm sad that I didn't know more about him. He was an activist for many causes, including being outspoken about the situation in Burma, being an environmental and animal rights activist, as well as being vegan. Some people grow successful or live off the money of previous success, and do nothing. They enjoy being well off and spend their time on themselves. This man obviously cared about the world and I think it's safe to say that we're all the worse for it without someone like him around.
My heart goes out to Koenig's family.
