Eden Malinoff, a 24-year-old baker from Los Angeles, runs a small cookie and cake business. A few days before Halloween, she baked a very special cake for her neighbour, Vito, who was turning 97. It was a red wine chocolate cake, and it was the centrepiece of a lively birthday party.
Before the party, Eden had asked Vito what the secret to a long life was. His answer was short and funny: “Never drink cheap liquor.” Eden later shared a video of the evening on TikTok. In the clip, Vito is dancing and clapping along to the Bee Gees’ classic disco song “Stayin’ Alive”, surrounded by friends and neighbours.
Sadly, the evening did not end the way anyone had expected. Shortly after the guests sang “Happy Birthday” to him, Vito passed away. No other details about his death have been released. “Unfortunately the night did not end as anticipated, and Vito made a dramatic exit,” Eden wrote. She called him “an absolute legend“.
The video quickly went viral and has received about 1.6 million likes. Many people found the story both sad and strangely touching. Eden admitted that the night was a shock, but she also believes that if Vito could have chosen how to go out, it would have been exactly like this: at a party, with cake, music and the people he loved.
In the comments, she reminded her followers that Vito would not want anyone to be sad. “If I learned one thing from Vito,” she wrote, “it’s to never let your age stop you.”
