Benji Nicholas Edler-Sabo

Our sweet baby Benji has left us entirely too soon after a short but brave fight with leukemia. Benji Nicholas Edler-Sabo was born on September 21, 2024 to the most loving parents, Alexa Edler and Nathan Sabo, with a full head of blonde hair and big, bright, blue eyes. He captured everyone’s hearts who came into contact with him from his family, to the nurses in the hospital, and strangers who saw him out and about. He was the happiest baby, always smiling and laughing, only really crying when trying to fight sleep since he didn’t want to miss out on anything. His beautiful smile and laugh lit up any room he was in, even more so now that he had 2 new teeth, and was one of his Mommy and Daddy’s favorite things. Benji had a particularly special bond with his Great Grandma Sharon, or GG. He would smile and giggle anytime he heard her voice, and she would light up any time he was around. He loved music, especially Pink Pony Club, and would drum on anything he could. We finally bought him a baby drum set, and he was actually quite good at drumming for a baby. On more than one occasion, we had to play Pink Pony Club on repeat for longer car rides, since that was the only song that would keep him calm. Benji loved books and reading, and enjoyed being read to by his parents and Grandpa Paul. He loved Ms. Rachel, eating pretzel sticks, chewing on anything he could get his hands on, and exploring the world around him since he was just starting to crawl, frequently leaving trails of half-eaten pretzels around the living room. He was a big momma’s boy but always wanted his daddy snuggles for bedtime, was always playing with his mommy’s hair and daddy’s beard, and giving us all the scritchy scratches we wanted. Benji loved Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, mommy teaching him to count in different languages, and doing Patty Cake with Grandma Kris. Going to the zoo was a favorite family activity. He had been to 3 zoos already in his short 9 months and especially loved the aquariums and tigers. His crazy puppy brother Roni always made Benji light up and giggle, and one of his favorite things to do was watch his puppy run around the backyard. Benji loved the water and bathtime and was almost finished with his first round of swimming lessons. But his absolute favorite thing in the world were tags. If there was a tag on something, Benji would find it and would be so happy, to the point where we jokingly nicknamed him Tag. He wouldn’t be our kid if he weren’t a little bit weird. He was everything we didn’t know we needed and more. Benji has forever changed our lives, and we will love and miss him forever. Nothing can ever replace him.

Benji is preceded in death by his great-grandparents, Paul and Helen Edler, Bill Winkle, Linda Grill, and Fred Sabo; his great-aunt, Pat; his cousin, Nick, whose middle name he honors; and other family members who would have loved him dearly. Benji is survived by his Mom and Dad, older brother Gavin, who was so excited to have a little brother, puppy brother Roni, Grandma and Grandpa Kris and Paul Edler who were so special to him, Godmother Natalee Petrusky, his favorite GG Sharon Molnar, Nonni and Papa Kathy and Jon Sabo, Uncle Justin (Kim) Sabo, Aunt Nikki (Jerry) Molnar, and Aunt Allie Edler, special Aunt Jackie Winkle and Aunt Sheshi Mackey, cousins Sawyer Evans, Charlie Winkle, and Ryder Ferrell, bonus grandma Barb Petrusky, great-grandpa Joe Grill and great-grandma Janet Sabo, and so many other loving friends and family members. We would like to give a special thanks to all of the nurses and doctors who cared for Benji at the UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Pediatric Emergency Department, PICU, and Oncology team, and the nurses who cared for Benji in the NICU at Akron General.

A visitation will be held at Freck Funeral Chapel 1155 S Wynn Rd in Oregon on Saturday, June 28, 2025, from 1 until 3 p.m. Services will begin at 3 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, we would like to honor Benji’s impact on the world by setting up some little free libraries in his name, supporting his favorite zoos, and by doing what we can to make a positive impact on the environment and world around us.