Former E. Islip all-star dies unexpectedly

A 23-year-old Islip Terrace native and former standout East Islip High School baseball player died Saturday after collapsing in the elevator of a Manhattan hotel, his parents said.

Rob Throo, of Harrisonburg, Va., had come home to Long Island to attend the Quiksilver Pro surfing competition in Long Beach. He was at the hotel with friends when his heart gave out, said his mother, Joanne Throo of Westhampton Beach. She said doctors at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center attributed the death to an electrical misfire in Throo's heart.

Throo never regained consciousness, though he received cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was rushed to the hospital, she said.

Throo had a reputation as an excellent shortstop who was named most valuable player even on all-star teams. As a member of the 2006 All-Long Island team, he hit .438 with five home runs, 32 RBIs, scored 30 runs and had 17 stolen bases.

"He hit the ball out of Shea Stadium," said his father, Fred Throo, a well-known architect who has designed Hamptons-area homes.

That hit was during one of Throo's many playoff or all-star games. His school athletics were developed alongside his education and professional aspirations in marketing.

"He wanted to pursue a career in marketing and we are as proud as we could possibly be," Fred Throo said.

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Rob Throo graduated in May from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., where he majored in marketing, and was a member of a professional fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi.

He had also served on the school's Honor Council, according to a report of his death in the online version of the school newspaper, The Breeze.

"He was a complete gentleman," said Theresa Clarke, a professor who taught Throo in an Internet marketing class. "He was quiet but very polite, attentive, courteous, just a really sweet person. I was absolutely shocked to hear this. It's such a tragedy when someone dies, but when someone passes at such a young age, it's heartbreaking."

Throo had just begun a job at Carahsoft, producer of security and software programs in Reston, Va.

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"He said we were the best parents anybody could ever have and that he loved us," Joanne Throo said, recalling a conversation she had with her son about a week ago when he came to Long Island to visit.

"I'm so grateful he was able to do that. I know he made it to where he wanted to be in life," his mother added.

Visitation is at Chapey and Sons Funeral Home in East Islip on Thursday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

The funeral is 10 a.m. Friday at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Islip Terrace.