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A popular TikToker has tragically died at the age of 25 after a neighbour found him "not breathing". Ben Bader, a Miami-based influencer, passed away "extremely suddenly" on Thursday, October 23. Police reported that neighbours discovered the star unresponsive, according to TMZ . First responders reportedly performed "lifesaving measures" at the scene, which continued once medical personnel arrived. Bader was later taken to a hospital but it was tragically too late and he was pronounced dead. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner has not yet released a final cause of death, and authorities have not ruled out foul play. Bader's girlfriend, Reem, confirmed his passing in an emotional online tribute. "The past few days have been the hardest few days of my entire life and I’ve never dealt with this before,” she wrote. "Especially not the loss of someone as important as he was to me. He genuinely loved every single person that he met and he was so positive all the time.” Reem added that the cause of Bader's death remains unknown. Bader rose to internet fame for offering lifestyle and financial advice to his 135,000 TikTok followers. On Instagram , where he had nearly 50,000 followers, he often shared photos from sporting events and with luxury cars. The lifestyle creator had celebrated his 25th birthday just a month earlier, on September 22. "He made a profound impact on everyone who knew him through his wisdom, humour, and compassion," Bader's family said in a statement to People . "Ben lived each day to the fullest, inspiring those around him to seek meaning, connection, and purpose in their own lives." "Though our hearts are broken, we will carry on Ben's legacy in everything we do," the family continued. "We will keep his memory alive by leading with love, living with purpose, and carrying forward his passions that made the world brighter." The star's girlfriend revealed that the two had plans to meet for dinner the night of his death. "No one really knows [how he died] and it seemed to have been extremely sudden," she shared. "There were really no signs of this happening — we were supposed to get dinner that night and he seemed so normal." She said she had spoken to him just hours before his death in a now-heartbreaking phone call. "I had just talked to him on FaceTime a couple hours before he passed and he was so happy and so normal and he was just smiling and being so funny," she said. "Ben was the kindest, most caring, most generous person I have ever met in my entire life." Reem called Bader her "hero" and "inspiration." She added: "I know this is selfish but I just feel like I devoted my everything to him and he devoted his everything to me, only for him to be taken away. I feel so lucky to have been loved by him but I'm also so jealous of the people who didn't know him well because it's just so easy to just move on." Bader’s final TikTok, posted the day he died, featured him offering followers financial advice. In it, he compared commitment and finding purpose to learning a new sport, encouraging viewers to "pick one business idea and stick to it." "If you feel sort of empty or directionless odds are is because it's been a while since you clearly defined what you want," Bader said powerfully in the video. Reem closed her tribute with a heartfelt message: "Life is unforgiving sometimes," she wrote, urging followers to hold their “loved ones extra tight."
