“Martin Shkreli, from the Class of 2001, donates $1,000,000 to HCHS!” read an alumni association website for Hunter College High School a year ago.

Wives and husbands come and go, children leave, friends fade into abstractions on Facebook. The dog is generally there for life, all of his or all of yours, whichever comes first. Hunter, who died Sunday night at home and surrounded by his people, was there for life. It was really his second life, which began when I pulled his numb body from a freezing, half-empty swimming pool 10 years ago this month.