COHOES —  Eric K. Meyette died peacefully at home on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, surrounded by his loving family after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 35.

He was the son of Jennifer Meyette and Howard Meyette. Raised on Quay Road in Knox, he was a Berne-Knox-Westerlo student until the eighth grade.

“He was a fun-loving kid, always with a friendly smile,” recalled his mother. “He said hello to everyone.”

In the summer, he liked to ride his bike and do jumps; in the winter, he liked to snowmobile, she said.

“Growing up, he was very close to his sisters, Melissa and Mariah,” Ms. Meyette said.

After the family moved to Guilderland, Eric Meyette graduated from Guilderland High School in 2004 and went on to cook, his mother said.

He first worked for Marriott, doing banquet plating and moved up to assist the sous-chef, she said. Mr. Meyette went on to work for Sodexo, preparing meals for college students at Siena and Russell Sage in Albany, Ms. Meyette said.

Mr. Meyette was a music lover. He liked songs from the fifties, sixties, and seventies, right up to current times, she said. 

“He played it all the time, always loud …. He had a great sound system in his car,” Ms. Meyette said. Mr. Meyette liked socializing on road trips and visiting craft breweries.

“He was the life of the party,” said Ms. Meyette. “He was very social, always with that friendly smile on his face. He liked to make people laugh. If a friend was in need, he’d step in to help out.”

Being a father was the most important thing in her son’s life, Ms. Meyette said. “They just bought a house and were newly pregnant when he got diagnosed,” she said of her son and his wife and his stepchildren.

Their son, Brayden, is not quite 2 years old. “He read to Brayden a lot. He hugged him and held him. He enjoyed playing with him, showing him different shapes,” said Ms. Meyette.

Eric Meyette came to live with his mother after he was diagnosed with cancer, she said. “He’d talk to Brayden every night on Facetime,” she said.

“Brayden was the light of his life,” she said. “He hung on to have Christmas with his son.”

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In addition to his parents, Eric K. Meyette is survived by his cherished son, Brayden Meyette; by Christina Mayette, the mother of his son, and his two stepsons, Jacob and Carter Erecacho; by his sisters, Mariah Mayette and Melissa Helm and her wife, Jaime; by his niece, Peyton Helm; and by his chosen brother, Ron Swenson and his financée Jackie; by his niece, Callie Swenson; and by his grandmothers, Donna Heald and Gladys Sears and her husband, Frank; and by many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Calling hours will be held at New Comer Cremations & Funerals at 181 Troy Schenectady Road in Watervliet on Friday, Jan. 14, from 5 to 7 p.m. A funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 10 a.m. with burial to follow the service at Memory Gardens at 983 Watervliet Shaker Road in Albany.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer