He became a rabbi, Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and grew to become the head of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem where he built it into the largest yeshiva in Israel, with over 6000 students, over the past 21 years.
He passed away this week of a heart attack after a long fight with Parkinson's.
100,000 people attended his funeral.
Not bad for a kid from Chicago who didn't know what he would be doing after high school.