By all accounts, Nathan Robinson was a 15-year-old who loved math, music and The Office.
On Thursday night, Robinson's favorite TV show paid on-air tribute to the Massachusetts high-school student who died March 14 of flu-related complications.
The in memoriam dedication appeared during the end credits of the NBC comedy's 9 p.m. episode. It was accompanied by grainy home video of Robinson playing the show's theme on the piano.
It appears the powers that be at The Office learned of Robinson and his rendition of their theme music after the Boston Globe ran a feature on the teen March 21.
The story noted Robinson's love of everything from Beethoven to the paper pushers of Dunder Mifflin. It also recounted how a few weeks before his death, Robinson and a friend got to talking about their favorite TV series. When the friend suggested Robinson, a talented pianist, take a crack at the show's title tune, Robinson did. The resulting 32-second video, "Nathan Plays Piano," was posted on YouTube the day after Robinson's death.
The clip, which even after the Globe story ran could hardly be called an Internet phenomenon, was starting to head that way in the wake of its exposure on The Office. On Friday, the video was attracting thousands of views, and dozens of comments.
"I saw this while watching The Office last night, like everyone else here. And, like everyone else here, I was moved by it, so I just had to go on here and watch his playing," one post said. "He was so talented..."
Said another: "Classy move by The Office to pay tribute to one of their fans. Rest in peace, young man."
Kate, the friend who shot and posted the video—she didn't want to disclose her last name—wrote in an email to E! News Friday that it was overwhelming to see people from all over reach out to Robinson.
"It was really amazing!" Kate wrote. "Nathan was such a fan of The Office, and he would have been so excited."