Community Corner

Aaron Swartz: 1986-2013

See Patch's complete coverage of the Highland Park native and Internet activist who, in the midst of a battle with depression and the federal government, took his own life.

Highland Park native Aaron Swartz was remembered  who inspired friends and family alike during a moving funeral service held at Central Avenue Synagogue on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old who committed suicide last Friday was also mourned as a victim of unfair treatment by the government. 

Swartz co-created the social news website Reddit and founded Demand Progress, an organization devoted to Internet activism and fighting expanded government oversight of the Internet, according to CNN.

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Considered a prodigy by his peers, parents and professors, Swartz created RSS, a now common web-publishing technology, when he was 14. 

"Parents were reading to their kids," Robert said about raising his son, "and Aaron was reading to us."

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Read Patch's complete coverage of Swartz's life and legacy in the links below.

Aaron Swartz Remembered as Internet Activist who Changed the World

Westboro Baptist Church May Picket Aaron Swartz's Funeral

Internet Activist Aaron Swartz's Teachers Remember 'Brilliant' Student

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