Roger Akerman, 1990 RHS graduate

Roger Edward Akerman, a 1990 Ridgefield High School graduate with a gift for making people smile, died from a sudden illness last Thursday, March 15, in Culver City, Calif. He was 28, lived in Los Angeles, Calif., and was the son of former Ridgefielder Martha Hoglund and the late Sigel Akerman.
“He was always happy,” said his mother. “He lived to make you look at life from the bright side, and he’d make jokes on himself so he could make you smile.”
“Roger had an uncanny ability to make people smile,” said his brother, Marc Akerman.
Born in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1972, he moved to Ridgefield with his family in 1981. They lived on Hillcrest Court. He went to Scotland Elementary School, East Ridge Middle School and then Ridgefield High School, where he played football and lacrosse for four years, and was on the ski team.
He and his brothers, Glenn and Marc Akerman, often worked in construction with their stepfather, Bengt Hoglund.
He attended the University of Rhode Island, Western Connecticut State University, and Santa Monica College in California.
The family moved from Ridgefield to Brookfield last November, but Roger had earlier moved to California.
He worked for the president of marketing for Time/Warner, and had previously been in production for Bel-Air Entertainment, a Time/Warner subsidiary.
He enjoyed all types of sports and had picked up surfing in California. He enjoyed travel and spending time with friends and family. He retained many friends in Ridgefield, and they were proud that he’d gone to California, gotten a good job that he enjoyed, and become engaged to marry, his mother said.
Beside his mother, stepfather and brother Marc, all of Brookfield, he is survived by another brother, Glenn Akerman of Suffern, N.Y., and his uncle and aunt Henry and Saima West, who are his godparents, and his fiancée, Christina Cooley of Los Angeles.
His father and one cousin, John West, died before he did.
Services will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Emanuel Lutheran Church, Manville Road, Pleasantville, and burial will be at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, N.Y.
Calling hours are from 5 to 9 on Friday, March 23, at the Maher Funeral Home, 117 Washington Avenue, Pleasantville.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation or the American Cancer Society.