In Memoriam - Benjamin Pierre "The Guano Man"

I have just found out that our dear friend Benji has passed away. I never saw somebody that enjoyed life more than him. He was happiest with a remote control radio in his hands. There wasn't a problem Benji couldn't solve. We even coined the word "Bengineering" for his inventions. He was like a mad scientist always working on his latest project. When one of his contraptions didn't perform as expected, he would always say "back to the lab". Like all of us, he had plenty of problems in life, but you wouldn't know it, because he was always smiling with a carefree easy going demeanor, always willing to help anybody, always the optimist.

I last saw him at the Fort Lauderdale Air Show a couple of weeks ago. He looked really happy with his new girlfriend. Everybody knew Benji, he was sort of a legend in the flying field. It was funny how every time he was going to test fly one of his homemade craft all the other pilots landed their airplanes to give him the full airspace and enjoy the show. Benji drowned in Amelia Earhart Park yesterday trying to recover his remote control boat in the lake. He died doing what he loved. He was only 31 and leaves behind two children. Rest in Peace my friend.

Benji' favorite phrases:

"It will fly!" Looking at his latest invention.
"But of course!" When you asked him if he knew how to fix/do something.
"They sold you/him a dream"
"Praaaaaaaaa!" As he described a vehicle crashing recounting flight operations for the day.
"What a bag!" When he saw somebody elses plane crash and turn into a bag of sticks.
"It's bat guano" Used to describe a piece of shit hardware or device.
"I'm a genius in box" Describing his mechanical abilities.

This is the article of the accident as reported in the Miami Herald.

A man drowned in Hialeah, trying to save a remote control boat

By ANDREA TORRES atorres@MiamiHerald.com

A 31-year-old man drowned Monday evening as he attempted to rescue a motorized, remote control boat in a lake at Hialeah's Amelia Earhart Park, 401 East 65th St. The man was using a raft to paddle into the middle of the lake to get the disabled boat, but the other boats didn't stop the race. One accidentally rammed the raft, puncturing it and causing it to deflate, said Jesse Casales, a spokesman for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

The man did not know how to swim, Casales said. A few friends jumped in to rescue him, to no avail, as his fiancée and the man's baby daughter looked on. Divers recovered the man's body Monday night. His identity has not been released.