CHARLOTTE -- Family and friends reported Sunday that a 20-year-old Myers Park high graduate died in China from an unknown cause while working an internship for a financial services company.
Adam Bennett had been in south China near Hong Kong since Nov. 4, family and friends said. He was supposed to be working there until February.
His mother, Sharon Bennett, said he had been ill off and on from an early age. Her son started taking violin lessons at age 4 and played the National Anthem at age 6 to start the 1997 Charlotte Hornets' professional basketball season. But his neurological disorder robbed him of his violin skills by age 10, she said.
She said he believed in charity and good works and would go to a soup kitchen on Thursday nights and give money and clothes to those in need. “He was traveling all over the city giving away things, and I couldn't stop him if I wanted to. He was a smart kid.”
Bennett's Facebook page filled up this weekend with messages of disbelief at his death and written remembrances from friends and classmates. He was attending Central Piedmont Community College before he left on the internship.
Bennett's father traveled to China this weekend to retrieve the body. Sharon Bennett said official details out of China were scant and difficult to come by. The mother has contacted the U.S. State Department and U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick's office for help.
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