EAST HARLEM — Classmates, friends and family members gathered at Harlem Success Academy 3 Thursday to remember Sidy Fofana, the 9-year-old boy who fell to his death from the roof of his Bronx building last month.
Sidy, who was a fourth-grader at the school on East 111th Street, was remembered as a clever, kind student with a great sense of humor and a strong passion for soccer.
His peers, speaking through laughter and tears, described him as someone who brought goodness to everything and who was capable of doing anything he wanted, whether it was making them laugh by indulging in bathroom humor or doing impersonations.
"He wasn't only my friend," said one of the young speakers. "He was also kind of like a brother, and now he's my angel, and he's your angel."
"He had a positive, special and great impact to us," he continued, "and I know that he is in heaven, but he's always with us and his family, and I hope Sidy had a great life with us."
Sidy's goal had been to become a dentist, a move partly inspired by his older cousin Salif Fofana, relatives said.
"He wanted to be a dentist because of my teeth," Salif said. "People say I have a nice smile, and he said he wanted to take care of my teeth."
The service concluded with a soccer game and a moment of silence in Sidy's honor. His mother Sanata Diakite remembered her son's sense of humor.
"He was very funny," she said. "My house is now quiet because he was the funniest person in the house."
But Diakite expressed frustration over the lack of information she has received regarding how exactly her son died. The medical examiner's office has said Sidy's cause of death is pending further study.
Cheik Fofana, another cousin of Sidy's, had similar concerns.
"The one thing that is still a question mark to us is, literally, what happened, really?" he said.
Sidy's father, Gaoussouf Fofana, a worker at a Gristedes in Manhattan, said his son was also his best friend.
He recalled a time when the two of them saw a Ferrari, and Sidy told him not to worry because, one day, he would buy one for his dad.
"He made me happy," he said.
