Leonardo “Leo” Itzak Bortiri, was my first student in Durham, North Carolina. For two years I had the privilege of helping this wonderful intelligent, energetic and fun young human learn to play the piano. Words cannot express the sorrow I experienced when I heard of his passing.  

Leo died on Thursday, December 19, 2013 while traveling with his parents in Argentina. Leo was a bright-eyed 7 year old in the second grade at George Watts Montessori Magnet in Durham. He was born in Berkeley, California, but loved his adopted state of North Carolina. Leo was in perpetual motion. He was an avid soccer player, playing many seasons with Hillandale Sports Association and later Triangle Futbol Club. He rode his bicycle all over his Trinity Park neighborhood, and relished summer camps at the Eno River and the Levin JCC. He would eat platefuls of homemade pasta, and had just learned to play the theme to Star Wars on the piano. A week before his death, Leo proudly hiked up Mt. Tronador in the Argentine Andes, and walked across the Alerce Glacier.