BATON ROUGE - A 12-year-old boy whose wish for a successful birthday party was granted by East Baton Rouge sheriff's deputies has died.

According to the sheriff's office, Aaron Clark passed away unexpectedly Wednesday night. The Zachary native had been suffering from Duchene Muscular Dystrophy, which confined him to a wheelchair.

Aaron befriended a number of local deputies after he ran into Deputy Jeff Neyland at a restaurant in November. When Neyland heard the boy did not have any friends stopping by for his upcoming birthday, he rallied several other deputies to throw a party for Aaron. The sheriff's office employees visited him again in December, throwing him a Christmas party complete with a visit from Santa Claus.

The sheriff's office says Neyland had just paid Aaron a visit Wednesday, and he had appeared to be in high spirits. The department posted a small tribute on its Facebook page honoring the young man.