Max Close And Alejandro Mercado

Max Close And Alejandro Mercado Memorial - Stories And Photos

Max’s and Alejandro's Parents Thank The Lakewood Community

by Johany Mercado and Brock Close

At this time the Mercado family would like to join with the Close family to thank the Lakewood community, schools, teachers, friends, family and strangers for your support, prayers and donations. Words are not enough to describe how thankful and proud we are to be residents of this awesome community.


Lakewood Mourns The Loss Of Two Of Our Children

by Betsy Voinovich

On Sunday, February 21 2021, Lakewood lost two of its children in a car accident. Max Close and Alejandro Mercado were both 19 years old, and Lakewood High School graduates from the class of 2020. A joint funeral was held Monday March 1st with both families, including a public webcast of the service to accommodate the many famiies who wanted to honor the memory of the boys and pay their respects to the families. GoFundMe pages can be found here for Alejandro: https://www.gofundme.com/f/alejandro-mercado-funeral-fund?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unknown&utm_campaign=comms_yb6g+alejandro-mercado-funeral-fund
 and here for Max: https://www.gofundme.com/f/2ae40ki05c?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unknown&utm_campaign=comms_yb6g+2ae40ki05c
Memorial contributions may be forwarded to the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter, 9500 Sweet Valley Drive, Valley View OH 44125. 
Godspeed.

Close And Mercado Memorial And Scholarship

by Brian Siftar, Lakewood Schools

In the early morning of February 22, Lakewood High School tragically lost two of our Class of 2020 graduates. As the parents, families and community continue to grieve the loss of Max Close and Alejandro Mercado, Lakewood High School and the West Shore Career-Technical District have been planning a tribute to our former students whose lives tragically were cut too short.
     With the support of many, we plan to create a living memorial at LHS with benches and trees in remembrance of Max and Alejandro. Additionally, a scholarship in their names will be awarded in conjunction with the Lakewood Council of PTAs and the Project Lead the Way Engineering Program. 
For those wishing to make a donation to the scholarship fund, please make your check out to Lakewood High School and send to 14100 Franklin Blvd. Lakewood, OH 44107. You can also donate by credit card by calling 216-529-4047.
Our thoughts continue to be with the families and friends of Max and Alejandro.



Alejandro, Our Shining Star

by Johnny Mercado

On February 8th, 2002 we welcomed our firstborn son Alejandro Ramon Mercado. He is and will always be our shining star. He is the oldest brother to Antonio and Alfonso. Alejandro enjoyed and loved to spend time with friends and family. He enjoyed trying all kinds of new foods especially if it was spicy. He enjoyed his grandmother and mom’s cooking. He was willing to try anything and appreciated everything. Gratitude is his legacy. Building others up is how he expressed that gratitude. He was proud of his family and friends. He never held grudges and friends describe him as the mediator, the rock, setting a example of forgiveness as he would point out the good in people. This was the kind of engineer he hoped to be, someone who sees a challenging situation and has an idea for a solution. Alejandro wanted to help and focused on ways to develop resources and assistance to underserved populations. He had a vision of improvements to basic infrastructure that would upgrade living conditions as well as the quality of life for folks globally. We will continue to carry his dreams and goals.
 

Max, The Kindest Silliest Guy

by Brock Close

Max was the kindest silliest guy I knew. I loved hanging out with him, he was an amazing son and one of my best friends. I am so proud of him. I will miss our projects, games, road trips, and most of all his happy go lucky way of approaching life. He brought so much happiness and joy to the world. His legacy of kindness will live on in us forever.
    Max, I love you buddy. I know you and Hondro are out there having a blast in the great beyond. Take care of each other and know that I love you so much.

Memories Of Max And Alejandro

By Joseph Kelly

Alejandro was a close friend of mine. He was a quick witted and intelligent guy with a good heart. He was also kind of a pistol too. I would always laugh and laugh after he tore into someone in an online game and then proceed to politely ask how I was doing. He was always up to being with me and other people. We would always play games or watch tv as one big group. He had always had something clever to say whatever the situation. If it were in person or over the internet, I could always expect a good time to be had if he were around. 
     Max was a man with a great sense of humor. If I could pick a word to describe him it would be “class clown”. He would always wear these silly matching sweatshirts and pants every Friday. I know he took pleasure in making us laugh. He also had this little voice he would do sometimes that always cracked me up. His voice would get low, and he would say something like “oooooooOOOOOOOOoooh”, or “mmmmmmhhh yeah”. I know that sounds a bit silly but if you knew him personally, you would know exactly what I am talking about.
     They were two of the best guys I ever knew. They never did anything wrong to me and they always treated me with respect from the beginning. I keep telling myself that I have gotten over it and moved on. However, whenever I stop and realize that they are never going to talk to me again a little part of me dies inside. I hope that all the people who read this treasure life. It is not worth losing loved ones over something like an argument because they can be taken away from you so easily. It is important to always be nice to others, it’s even more important to respect life. Never assume it is okay to do something you know is dangerous to others or yourself. Thank you for reading, have a nice day.

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Volume 17, Issue 8, Posted 10:11 AM, 04.08.2021

From Grandpa To The Max

Thanks for making this tribute available to the entire Lakewood community. 

It would seem to me that it would be hard to find a stronger friendship between to young men. Their likes and interests were similar as were their senses of humor. Max befriended all and equally was considered a friend by all.
He will be missed for all of time.

Bob Close, 
Grandpa to the Max

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Volume 17, Issue 7, Posted 3:04 PM, 03.17.2021

Max, The Kindest Silliest Guy

Max was the kindest silliest guy I knew. I loved hanging out with him, he was an amazing son and one of my best friends. I am so proud of him. I will miss our projects, games, road trips, and most of all his happy go lucky way of approaching life. He brought so much happiness and joy to the world. His legacy of kindness will live on in us forever.

Max, I love you buddy. I know you and Hondro are out there having a blast in the great beyond. Take care of each other and know that I love you so much.

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Volume 17, Issue 7, Posted 3:04 PM, 03.17.2021

Alejandro, Our Shining Star

On February 8th, 2002 we welcomed our firstborn son Alejandro Ramon Mercado. He is and will always be our shining star. He is the oldest brother to Antonio and Alfonso. Alejandro enjoyed and loved to spend time with friends and family. He enjoyed trying all kinds of new foods especially if it was spicy. He enjoyed his grandmother and mom’s cooking. He was willing to try anything and appreciated everything. Gratitude is his legacy. Building others up is how he expressed that gratitude. He was proud of his family and friends. He never held grudges and friends describe him as the mediator, the rock, setting a example of forgiveness as he would point out the good in people. This was the kind of engineer he hoped to be, someone who sees a challenging situation and has an idea for a solution. Alejandro wanted to help and focused on ways to develop resources and assistance to underserved populations. He had a vision of improvements to basic infrastructure that would upgrade living conditions as well as the quality of life for folks globally. We will continue to carry his dreams and goals.
 
At this time we would like to thank the Lakewood community, schools, teachers, friends, family and strangers for your support, prayers and donations. Words are not enough to describe how thankful and proud we are to be residents of this awesome community.
 


 
 
 
 

 

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Volume 17, Issue 7, Posted 3:04 PM, 03.17.2021

Antonio's Memories Of His Brother

Alejandro was a person that was very understanding. When you needed him, he was always there for you. When I was in the hospital he always made sure that I was getting better and doing ok when he would come to see me. I share a lot of interests with my brother and that made me feel good and happy. I felt safe around him and I was able to be open around him. He was a very awesome person. I can’t think of anything that he did to make me feel bad. I feel closer to him and he will be watching over me for ever. Love you, Jando. You are the best always.
( From Antonio Mercado Middle Brother)

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Volume 17, Issue 7, Posted 3:04 PM, 03.17.2021

My Friend Alejandro

Alejandro was among the most humble, honest, selfless and respectable people that I have come to call a Brother in my 18 years on this planet. He had the uncanny ability to make you laugh even on your worst days, even if it was his worst day. He had the ability to find the good in all things and all people. Alejandro never allowed anything to slow him down. Alejandro was a binding force of our group and would always find a diplomatic solution to all problems. I will celebrate Alejandro’s life at every opportunity because I know he would have done the same for anyone he held close.

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Volume 17, Issue 7, Posted 3:04 PM, 03.17.2021

From Alejandro's Friend Jason

Alejandro was a very close friend to me, he made me feel like I was wanted by others outside of my family. He would take the time out of his day to hear anyone talk about anything or to play video games with us. He was special to me that he felt like a second brother to me. He would stay up late at night to talk to me about problems I had, and he would give me suggestions on how I could fix said problems. He was a caring person, he never really showed hate towards anyone, even if they did poor things to him. He never really meant it when he said he hated someone. Another thing I found special about him was how genuine he was to everyone, something that is hard to find in a lot of people.

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Volume 17, Issue 7, Posted 3:04 PM, 03.17.2021

Pirate Rides And Cookies With Max And Rylan

Max was a generous, loving, hilarious grandson who made everything fun!! One especially fond memory I have of him was when we were baking Christmas cookies at my house.  Max and his brother, Rylan, were rolling out the dough and cutting it with my Christmas cutters.  I was encouraging them to put them close together so as not to waste dough.  Suddenly Max yelled, ”Hey! My reindeer is kicking Rylan’s gingerbread man in the head!”  We chuckled about that.  Then it became a goal to make the shapes close together and Max made up a story to go with each interaction between the cookies.  Soon Rylan, Max and I were wiping the tears from our eyes from laughing so hard at his stories!!
     

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Volume 17, Issue 7, Posted 3:04 PM, 03.17.2021