August 17, 1968 – February, 2010
Joshua Andrew Koenig, the son of Walter Koenig, was found dead in a Vancouver park. The official cause of death was not released, but suicide, and Mr. Koenig’s father, who is best known for playing Pavel Chekov on Star Trek: The Original Series, said his son “took his own life.” The 41-year-old actor had been battling clinical depression and was missing for a week, prompting celebrities to use Twitter to try to find him. Andrew established himself as an actor in his own right with a recurring role on the 80s sitcom Growing Pains as Richard “Boner” Stabone. He also guest-starred in an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine and recently played the Joker in the fan-film Batman: Dead End. He was also a film-maker and out-spoken activist for human rights in China.
Walter Koenig, and his wife Judy ,said, “The Koenig family thanks you for your kind thoughts at this difficult time. It means a lot to them and they are very appreciative of the support they are receiving. Each of these emails will be printed and bound in a remembrance book.” I’m sure this is a sad day for the family and our hearts go out to them.
If you wish to contact the family to express condolences, then go to the Official Andrew Koenig Memorial.
[Image Source: walterkoenigsite.com]
UPDATED: Added cause of death and some other biographical facts.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="42874 ">2 Comments
The sad party part is learned more about this guy from these few paragraphs than I knew during his entire life. I didn't know he was the Joker, cool. Oh, and the official cause of death is suicide.
What's wild is that my wife was telling me that "Boner" from "Family Ties" was missing at the same time that I heard Koenig's son was missing. It was only after he died I found out they were the same person. Check out "Batman: Dead End". He only has a short role, but he plays it really well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjp0I_okX0w