Ennis Cosby

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Ennis William Cosby (April 15, 1969 – January 16, 1997) was the son of actor Bill Cosby and Camille Hanks. He had four sisters.

Life

Ennis' father Bill Cosby mined family life for much of his material, but kept the family itself quite private. Thus much of what is known of Ennis's early life is seen through the filter of his father's comedy sketches and TV shows.

Several events in the life of Ennis Cosby were intentionally mirrored by the events in the life of his father's fictional son Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984-1992). Theo was 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 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 Cosby character Griffin Vesey, portrayed by Doug E. Doug, was a surrogate son to Bill Cosby's character on that series. Griffin eventually became a teacher, as Ennis aspired to do.

In one of his early standup routines, later released in theaters as Raw, Eddie Murphy mentioned Ennis Cosby in a sketch involving Bill Cosby: Ennis was said to be a fan of Murphy.

Although he performed on stage in high school, Ennis was not a public figure. He graduated from George School, Newtown, Pennsylvania, and Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia.

Cosby aspired to become a special education teacher after he overcame dyslexia. At the time of his death he was a student at Teachers College, Columbia University, and was a Sunday-school teacher in the Bronx.

Murder

Cosby was murdered by Mikhail Markhasev on January 16, 1997, in Los Angeles, California. He was 27 years old.

Cosby had pulled his Mercedes to the side of Interstate 405 to change a flat tire when 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 confessed his guilt after his conviction, because, in his own words, he "wanted to do the right thing … More than anything, [he] wanted to apologize to the victim's family." Markhasev is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in San Quentin State Prison.

Aftermath

In 2000, Bill Cosby started a scholarship in Ennis Cosby's name at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In addition the Hello Friend/Ennis Cosby Foundation was established in his name.

External links

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Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 13:53:04 PDT (GMT -0700)
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