Vigil Marks 2 Years Since Young Brothers' Deaths In Westlake Village

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA — Connor Nagel, 13, stood in front of a tearful crowd and recounted the best joke his late best friend Mark Iskander ever told him.

"There are two baseball players. One of them says, 'do you think that there's baseball in heaven?' The other says, 'I don't know, let's make a deal. The first one that dies will go to heaven and tell the other if there is.' The other says 'deal,'" Nagel said.

The first one dies and goes to heaven. He comes back to visit his friend with good news.

"'The good news is, there's baseball in heaven. The bad news is, you're up next Thursday.'"

The crowd laughed.

Nagel loved baseball and his friend Mark Iskander had wanted to play baseball too, but never got the chance before he died at 11 years old.

"Until we play ball together," Nagel said, speaking to his friend.

The eighth grader was one of many people who spoke at Thursday's vigil for Mark and Jacob Iskander, two young brothers who were fatally struck by a car on Sept. 29, 2020.

Over 100 community members gathered at Three Lakes Park in Westlake Village, the boys' neighborhood playground, to commemorate the second anniversary of the Iskander brothers' deaths.

Speakers included Mark and Jacob Iskander's Sunday school teacher, music teacher, priest and friends from school. Nancy Iskander, the boys' mom, opened the ceremony with a prayer.

Mark was inquisitive and thoughtful, his Sunday school teacher Mariam Guirgos said.

He was at once funny and laid back. He wouldn't waste a minute of any day — nothing slowed him down, said Jenny Nagel, Connor Nagel's mother and a friend of the Iskander family.

Mark was fiercely loyal to his friends and family. He bragged about how cool his parents were, he prayed for his sister when she broke her arm and he always ran extra treats to his brothers after Sunday school, Guirgos said. He befriended everyone he encountered and never had enemies, Connor Nagel said.

"Mark was the type of friend that if anything happened, he was always there for me. ... Mark always wanted everyone to be happy," Connor Nagel said. "If anyone was having a rough day, he would always try to make them feel better no matter what it was."

Mark was always chasing after Jacob, a rambunctious young boy that was a perfect mix between "nice and crazy," Connor Nagel said. Jacob was 8 when he died. Jacob's friends remembered him as a playful jokester, who could always make his friends feel better when they were down.

Jacob was the best at making funny faces and the best at playing air guitar, his friends said.

"Jacob was a really fun person," said his friend and classmate said Daniel Hopkins. "Jacob would tell me jokes when I was sad."

Jacob looked up to his big brother Mark, and bragged about his baby sister, Violet.

"The best way that I can describe Mark and Jacob is that they both lived life fully, and that they lived out loud," Jenny Nagel said. "They demanded your attention, but in a way that you wanted to give it to them. They were so charismatic."

The boys loved each other deeply, and shared warmth and joy through the smiles that were always on their faces.

"Christ is truly the source of all of our joy, and Mark and Jacob are two vessels filled to the brim with Christ," Guirgos said. "Everyone who got the chance to meet Mark and Jacob simply had a chance to experience a small piece of heaven here on earth."

Mark and Jacob have forever changed the local community, said Julie Cohen, who helped organize Thursday's vigil. As Cohen went door-to-door informing local residents about the vigil, she experienced community like she never had before — people who had never met the boys softened at the mention of their names, welcomed her in for a laugh and a cry and asked how they could help. Organizers had too many volunteers for Thursday's vigil, Cohen said.

"I grew up in the days in Thousand Oaks when neighbors hugged one another. Mark and Jacob have brought back that sense of community. People have come together, with Mark and Jacob. people who would have never met each other, or walked in each other's paths, people who have nothing in common are now friends for life because of them," Cohen said. "Our world can be so divisive, but not when it comes to caring and loving Mark and Jacob."

Since the accident, the Iskander family founded The Mark and Jacob Iskander Foundation, which has already built an orphanage in Egypt and supports local foster children and students. The foundation recently teamed up with James Store House to donate shoes to local foster children, Cohen said.

The foundation also had an anonymous donor match donations throughout the month of September, Cohen said.

The Fatal Crash

Mark and Jacob Iskander were crossing the street at a marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Road, near Saddle Mountain Drive, in Westlake Village on Sept. 29, 2020 when their lives came to an abrupt end.

With their mother and younger brother, Zachary, the four were attempting to cross the road when two cars approached them at high speeds, according to the Ventura County Star.

Hidden Hills resident Rebecca Grossman is accused of hitting both boys with her car and was charged in 2020 with two felony counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. If convicted as charged, Grossman faces 34 years to life in prison.

The person driving the other car has been charged with misdemeanor reckless driving, according to the VC Star.

'Never Ever Forget'

Organizers asked attendees at Thursday's vigil to set aside their anger that justice has not yet been served and instead lead with love for the Iskander family and gratitude.

Cohen assured Nancy Iskander that the community will never forget her boys.

"Nancy, I promised you a long time ago we will never forget Mark and Jacob," Cohen said. "I want you to know that I keep my promises, and we all do. We will never ever forget Mark and Jacob."

Mark and Jacob are survived by their parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander and their siblings, Zachary and Violet Iskander.

"I know that I will see them again, and I look so forward to the day when I will see Nancy and Karim hold them in their arms again, and when I will hear Mark tell me another joke, and play some baseball with Connor. And maybe Jacob can throw some army men at me," Jenny Nagel said. "Until that day, I will remember their sweet faces and smile every time I see them."