"Right church, wrong pew," Dan Spak would tell his Firestone High School engineering students.

In the subtle advice they never found an answer, but they always got the encouragement needed to solve the problem at hand.

After school, on the weekends, during study hall or lunchtime, whenever a substitute was filling in for another teacher — Spak’s students "always found his door open." He sacrificed so much of his free time to his career that his students fondly remember him lost in thought at his desk, speaking under his breath to his wife, who was not there, "I love you, Mary."

Spak, Robotics Coach of the Year for 2018-19 and a former finalist for Akron Public Schools Teacher of the Year, died Saturday evening from a mysterious illness that stole his breath.

He was 65.

The beloved teacher was suffering from allergies for a second winter when his wife, Mary, said he began to experience shortness of breath and water retention in his feet. Other than allergies, his wife said he had no preexisting health conditions.

A doctor prescribed an inhaler and, via a tele-medicine appointment last week, a water pill. The physician told Spak to avoid the hospitals due to COVID-19 unless he could not catch his breath.

"You don’t know what to do anymore," said his wife, who explained that her husband likely would have sought inpatient treatment under normal circumstances. "They say don’t go to the hospital because all these people are there with COVID."

"The doctor was telling him, if you can’t breathe, go," she said. "Other than that, you don’t want to take the risk of going to the ER."

Saturday evening, as he sat at his computer, Spak told his wife he felt hot. "Then he said, ‘I can’t catch my breath,’" she said.

The ambulance arrived around 11:30 p.m. Paramedics spoke with Spak then loaded him up for a trip to the hospital. His wife watched, waiting to follow. But the ambulance never left the driveway.

Paramedics could not revive Spak. "He never even made it to the hospital," she said.

Health care workers administered a COVID-19 test after Spak’s death. The results should take 24 hours, his wife said.

News of Spak’s death hit his students and their families hard, especially in the Firestone cluster where he launched Akron Public Schools’ robotics program and inspired or mentored similar programs at Kenmore, Garfield, Buchtel and the STEM High School.

Spak founded the district’s first VEX team in 2012, growing the program and routinely sending a team from Akron to the international robotics competition.

"We’ve had at least one team qualify almost every year," said Firestone junior Gabe DiFiore. "But for most schools in the VEX competition, that’s not common. This year, we were the only ones.

"He pushed us to get where we are," said DiFiore, who will never forget the feeling when Spak congratulated his team for qualifying at this year’s state competition in March. "He saw all the work me and my team put in throughout the years. That’s what I’ve been thinking about all day."

For Jared and Julia Borodkin, a 2019 graduate and a current junior, the loss is deeply personal.

"Honestly and truly, Jared and I lost our grandfather back in 2015," said Julia, "and he kind of took on that role for us when we entered high school."

"If anything, he was the most loving guy you’ll ever meet," said Jared. "I don’t want to say his students made fun of him for it, but every four sentences he would say, ‘I love you, Mary.’"

The students interpreted the quiet words as an endearing recognition of his time devoted to teaching and his love for his wife.

"We were the lucky ones," said school board member Lisa Mansfield, whose middle son had Spak as a teacher and robotics coach.

Spak always took time to tout his students’ work and potential. "He sacrificed so much of his own time and gave so much to current and past and even future students," she said. "As a parent and for the district, I am just crushed — for all of the kids, mostly for his family."

"He made a huge impact on these students," said Sheri Stallsmith, who runs the booster club for the Firestone Robotics Team, on which her three sons served. "The impact he has made on all of my children has been enormous."

Spak is survived by a son, two daughters and four grandchildren. His wife said there’s no possibility of a memorial service during this pandemic. He will be cremated.

Though she’s exhibited no symptoms of COVID-19, which include shortness of breath, Mary told her daughter not to stay with her Saturday night. A friend is staying close.

Students are talking about writing Mary letters to express their adoration for her husband or creating a sign of affection to leave in her yard. Some want an annual robotics competition at Firestone to be named after Dan Spak. Others are waiting until the stay-at-home orders are lifted and it’s safer to come together to grieve and remember together, perhaps at the school later this year.

Reach Beacon Journal reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.