Mount Sinai High School Principal Robert Grable Dies at 49

MOUNT SINAI, NY – Robert Grable, the principal of Mount Sinai High School, has died at the age of 49.

"It is with deepest sorrow that we must announce the untimely passing of our friend, educator, and High School Principal Robert Grable," the Mount Sinai School District posted on its website Friday. "We will post further information regarding arrangements as we learn them."

The cause of Grable's death has not been released, but the news shocked residents in the North Shore community who remembered the former professional baseball player as a "fabulous leader" and "one of the most compassionate educators Mount Sinai has ever had."

Grable, of Oakdale, was a three-sport athlete at Connetquot High School in the late 1980s and went on to receive a full scholarship to St. John’s University for baseball, where he played third base, according to the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame, which Grable was inducted into in 2015.

He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 1991 and was later traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He began his teaching career in 2000 in Mount Sinai.

Grable was a father of three.