Homeless man found at local school dies
Kevin Bobek and his dog, Nola. Photo from Facebook
A homeless man found with his pet dog on the campus of Meadows Elementary the week before Christmas was taken by paramedics to a local hospital and later died, according to school officials and the Manhattan Beach Fire Department.
Kevin Bobek was a familiar figure in the local community. He and his dog, Nola, frequented the Manhattan Village mall area, where Bobek could often be found at the Coffee Bean engaging in conversation with other customers.
On the morning of Dec. 16, administrators at Meadows Elementary found a Bobek, with his dog, seeking shelter behind the third-grade classrooms at the school. Bobek appeared disoriented and only semi-conscious. MBFD paramedics responded and transported him to a local hospital.
Meadows Principal Michelle Krzmarzick posted a letter on NextDoor to let the community know why paramedics had been on campus, and then wrote another, the next day, after she learned of Bobek’s passing. Finally, Krzymarzick posted a final note to share more about what she’d learned about Bobek.
“The man’s name is Kevin, and his little dog, a white Maltese, is named Nola,” she wrote. Kevin was a local man who was often sighted by the community outside of The Coffee Bean conversing very intellectually with anyone who cared to talk with him,” she wrote. “He adored his little dog, and often carried her. Kevin passed away with dignity yesterday at a local hospital, leaving behind his beloved pet.”
NextDoor has frequently been a platform in which local residents voice concerns about the local homeless population, often bordering on histrionics. Some residents did express concern about homeless people using schools as shelter, but something different happened with Bobek. He wasn’t a stranger and didn’t fit quite as easily under any stereotype of homelessness. Several people knew him, either from Coffee Bean or from his earlier life in Manhattan Beach. An outpouring of concern was expressed for both his untimely death — Bobek was in his 50s — and for his dog.
Grettel Fournell, the wife of school board president Bill Fournell, immediately set up a fund to get Nola medical attention, and find her a new home.
“Kevin was a long-time MB resident even before he lived on our streets and many of you were blessed to have had brief or lengthy conversations with him, and some of you were blessed to have developed relationships with him,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page. “He and Nola touched many people before his death this week.”
Bobek had lived just down the street from the Fournells in the Hill Section.
“Kevin used to be our neighbor. He lived a couple houses down from us,” Bill Fournell said. “We are still getting his mail, and used to help him out, off and on. It’s been a really sad experience…. He had a daughter and a son who went to Grandview, MBMS, and Mira Costa. He had a career and was doing well, a nice house and a couple cars. And then he went through this long challenging period.”
Fournell said the GoFundMe page set up for Bobek’s dog was successful. Over $3,000 was raised, and Nola received medical care. An older couple who live in Manhattan Village who’d just lost their longtime pet dog adopted Nola.
Another of Bobek’s former neighbors, Karen Hightower, had been particularly close to him. She knew him for 15 years, including after he became homeless about four years ago. Hightower said he’d worked for tech startups and at one point was earning roughly $500,000 a year.
“Then the Great Recession hit and he lost his job,” she said.
His marriage also ended, and he began a decline — he rented for a while, then lived in a little hotel on Sepulveda, the Manhattan Inn & Suites. And finally, he became homeless. Hightower hadn’t seen him in a couple years when she saw him one day carrying his belongings. He asked if he could store his sleeping bag and belongings under her deck during the day. She was happy to help. He discreetly arrived every morning to store his things, then again in the early evening to pick them up. Hightower would often leave some food for Bobek and his dog.
Hightower said her belief was always that he was going to find a way back on his feet, because he never seemed to lose hope.
“He was always so optimistic,” she said. “Like someone would give him a gift card or something, and he’d say, ‘This card is going to change my life!’ He was always working on things. He was trying. I remember telling him, ‘Kevin, I can’t wait until you write your book.’ Because that’s how optimistic he was. I know people who have everything and are depressed. He was happy.”
Councilperson Richard Montgomery knew Bobek from the Coffee Bean, where they had conversations a few times a week. He said Bobek was always on his laptop, tending carefully to his dog, Nola, and happily making small talk with other regulars. He wore khaki pants and clean business shirts. He never carried extra belongings with him.
“I never knew he was homeless until he passed away,” Montgomery said. “I was shocked. I had no idea. He was a smart, friendly guy. He never said the word ‘homeless.’ Never asked for help. And he wasn’t a stranger to anyone [at the Coffee Bean]. Everyone knew him.”
The pride of his life, Hightower said, were his son, Zander, and daughter, Shanelle. Hightower had run in the American Martyrs 5K with Bobek’s daughter, when she was young, while he ran with his son. Both would finish their education living with their mother, in Palos Verdes. Shanelle is now a student at Harvard.
“Kevin just wasn’t the stereotype of somebody we think of as ‘homeless,’,” Hightower said. “He was a great father and very proud of his children. He was a very devoted father, until everything just went downhill.”
The cause of Bobek’s death was not made public, although witnesses at the school believed he may have suffered cardiac arrest. MBFD could only confirm he received treatment from paramedics and was transported to a hospital, where he died Dec. 17.
Krzmarzick, in her note following Bobek’s death, gently urged people to do whatever they can to help anyone who finds themselves in the kind of trouble Bobek found himself in.
“Kevin may no longer be with us,” she wrote. “But there are many others in need right here in our local community who could benefit from any surplus you might have….Rest in peace, Kevin. ”