Students and fellow teachers gathered to say goodbye to a beloved Norwood teacher who passionately pushed scores of students to follow their dreams and pursue their goals.

Ramon Cabrera Mojica, 52, was a teacher by trade. He taught art and fashion design and was the fashion designer and coach to contestants of the Miss Puerto Rico Pageant at the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan.

“His death is a loss to the entire community,” said Benjamin Torres, Mojica’s best friend and roommate. According to Torres, Mojica battled liver cancer and died in Manhattan on Aug. 5.

Mojica taught at MS 308, The Bronx Dance Academy at 3617 Bainbridge Ave. from 2000 to 2014. The school was walking distance from Mojica’s home, where he lived for 30 years.

“He loved his job and he was loved by his students,” said Torres, adding Mojica was passionate about art, enjoyed nature and would often visit the New York Botanical Garden.

Dozens of fellow colleagues and many former students of Mojica gathered for a memorial service held on Aug. 28 at St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church in Marble Hill.

Co-worker Anna Peacock said of Mojica, “He was kind and generous and the teachers loved him. He just embraced everyone and we’ll all miss him.”

During the memorial service, former student Jennifer Lopez, who attended MS 308 in 2004, recalled Mojica’s urging “to try [my] hand at art and design” over ballet, which she briefly entertained. Lopez eventually graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with an associate’s degree in fashion design and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Today Lopez works in the retail department of a Ralph Lauren clothing store.

Nadia Salim, a 2004 graduate of The Bronx Dance Academy, said of Mojica, “He pushed me to enter an art competition and I won first prize and I’ve continued drawing ever since.”

Maria Picon met Mojica as a contestant of the Miss Puerto Rico pageant of the New York Puerto Rican Day Parade in 1987, where he was a mentor to the young competitors. It was a competition that Picon would later win. Picon says today, “He was my coach, my teacher, my fashionista, my dress designer. He taught me how to talk to people and be sure of myself and to embrace my culture.”

Former journalist Leticia Theodore-Greene penned a piece in 2000 about a citywide art project that featured Mojica. Learning of his death, Theodore-Greene said, “The death of someone who impacts the future, in the way a teacher can, can be a big loss. Teachers do what parents can’t do during working hours and what many people don’t want to do at all. We owe so many of them our gratitude.”

Mojica was cremated. His ashes will be scattered by family members in his native Puerto Rico. In lieu of flowers, Torres asks that donations be made in Mojica’s name to the American Cancer Society.