David J. Cotter, 37, of South Windsor, Connecticut and formerly of Marcellus, died Monday following a brief illness.

Cotter was raised in Marcellus, graduating from Marcellus High School in 2004. He received a degree in music education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.

He had worked as a choral teacher in the East Syracuse Minoa school district and was a former education director at the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse. He also held positions as an assistant professor of theater at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio and was most recently the operations manager at KJR Consulting.

Cotter advocated for arts-in-education and “the arts as a tool for community transformation,” according to his obituary.

He was a theater artist who loved Disney and movies. His obituary said that he loved puppets and had a special kinship with Kermit, Figment and Baby Yoda.

Cotter left a message to be published on his Facebook page at his death.

It started out simply: “Well, I died today.”

He goes on to offer some advice for life:

First, always ask for help and when it arrives make sure you accept it.

Second, you are never too lost or too broken to come home.

Third, don’t judge a book by other people’s reviews. Read it yourself, get to the truth of it. The true story is never as simple as the gossip you might hear.

Fourth, theatre is hard. And it should be. If it wasn’t everyone would do it, and it wouldn’t be the special thing that it is.

And finally, love each other as best that you can. You don’t have to be perfect (I really struggled with that one), you just have to deliver on the basics: Show up, be on their side, and bring chips and dip.

He ended with “Break a leg everyone. I’ll be singing, dancing and eating ice cream while I wait for you for whatever our next adventure together will bring.”

A celebration of life will take place from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 26, which includes a service at 1 p.m., at the Landmark Theatre, Syracuse. Attendees are asked to wear colorful clothing in his honor.

Donations may be sent to Rarely Done Production, P.O. Box 236, Pompey, NY 13138 or Friends of Dorothy House, 212 Wayne St., Syracuse, NY 13203.

David Cotter as Scuttle and Shelley Cooper as Ariel in Disney's “The Little Mermaid,” which will ran from June 3 to 25, 2016, at the Redhouse Arts Center.Photos courtesy of Redhouse Arts Center/Genevieve Fridley

You may contact Sharon Dellinger by phone at 315-470-2265 or email.