Ennis Cosby
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Ennis William Cosby (1970 – January 16, 1997) was the son of actor Bill Cosby and Camille Hanks. He had four sisters.
Ennis aspired to become a special education teacher after he overcame dyslexia. A student at Teachers College, Columbia University, Ennis was murdered by a Ukrainian immigrant named Mikail Markhasev on January 16, 1997 at the age of 27 in Los Angeles, California. Ennis was on his way to visit a friend when his Mercedes got a flat tire. Ennis then pulled his car to the side of Interstate 405 to change the tire, where he was confronted by Markhasev. According to prosecutors, Markhasev demanded money from Cosby, and then shot him in the head and fled the scene. While the prosecutors stated that the case was very circumstantial, and that the verdict could have gone either way, Markhasev did confess after his conviction, because, in his own words, " wanted to do the right thing … More than anything, wanted to apologize to the victim's family". Markhasev is currently serving a life sentence in San Quentin State Prison without the possibility of parole.
In 2000, Bill Cosby started a scholarship in Ennis' name at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Trivia
- Several events in the life of Ennis Cosby were (intentionally) mirrored by the events in the life of his father's fictional son from The Cosby Show, Theo Huxtable (portrayed by Malcolm-Jamal Warner). Both Ennis and Theo had four sisters (two older, two younger). Both had academic problems in middle school and high school. Both were diagnosed as dyslexics and excelled academically in college. And both sought master's degrees in education from elite colleges in New York City (Ennis at Columbia University, Theo at New York University).
- Similarly, the character Griffin Vesey (portrayed by Doug E. Doug) from Cosby was a surrogate son to Bill Cosby's character on that series. Griffin eventually became a teacher, as Ennis aspired to do.
External links
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