SON WAS WORKING TOWARD DEGREE IN TEACHING DISABLED.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken Daily News Staff Writer

Ennis Cosby overcame dyslexia and was determined to start a school and clinic of his own to help less-fortunate youngsters beat their learning disabilities.

``He was my hero,'' said a grim-faced Bill Cosby, shortly after learning that his only son had been shot to death near Mulholland Drive, just off the San Diego Freeway.

The 27-year-old Cosby came to Los Angeles while on vacation from Columbia University Teachers College in New York City.

He expected to return Jan. 21 to resume his doctoral studies, friends say.

Handsome enough to go into acting, Cosby instead focused on earning a master's degree, specializing in reading and learning disabilities at the prestigious college. He was pursuing a second master's degree in education while working toward a doctorate there.

Professor Margaret Jo Shepherd, an adviser at Columbia's Teachers College, said Cosby had talked about his desire to work at a school and clinic for learning disabled students. ``He was very interested in learning the things he would need to know, the ability to run a school,'' she said.

Like his four sisters, Cosby gave his son a name that began with an E for excellence.

``He was having a wonderful life, they (his parents) were tremendously proud of him,'' said David Brokaw, a spokesman for the Cosby family. ``This young man was living up to the high standards his mother and father had set for his family.''

Cosby's path to excellence was not an easy one.

In the 1984 premiere episode of ``The Cosby Show,'' the fictional Huxtable family's only son tells his father he is struggling in school, a problem the boy blames on undue pressure to succeed.

The story depicted truth: In fact, Cosby's only son, Ennis, then 13, also struggled with a learning disability.

Cosby was a dedicated student who wanted to help others overcome the disability that had challenged him, Columbia University officials said.

``He had his own learning disability - that's what generated his desire to learn about learning disabilities and to give back, to make a difference,'' said Barry Rosen, a college spokesman who knew Cosby.

In fact, on Dec. 18, the last day before left for the winter break, Cosby was tutoring a boy with learning disabilities. Rosen said.

``He was giving back a lot of what he had learned,'' Rosen said.

Shepherd said that Cosby met 14-year-old Walter, who now lives with his grandparents, when the boy was 11 years old. His father had been murdered, school officials said.

``He began tutoring a youngster who was 11 years old at the time. Although the tutoring requirement (was) only a year, he felt it was so positive and important, Ennis continued to work with him for three years,'' Shepherd said.

``He certainly wanted Walter to have every opportunity to finish school and grow up a capable, competent person,'' Shepherd said.

Cosby earned an undergraduate degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1992 and went on to attend Columbia.

Cosby's father attended the ceremonies in May 1995 when Ennis Cosby earned a master's degree. Ennis Cosby continued to earn an advanced master's degree as part of the doctoral program in reading and learning disabilities, Rosen said.

``His father came to the ceremonies, he sat in the front row, tremendously proud of him, you could see him beaming - it was one of the proudest moments in his father's life,'' Rosen said. ``You could see he was like Cheshire cat, he was so proud of his son.''

``He was a good student, who participated a lot, he had a lot to say, he was a very caring person,'' said Dolores Perin, a professor at Teachers College, who had Cosby in a class on testing children for reading disabilities.

``This is a complete shock to me,'' she said.

Producer George Schlatter, a longtime Cosby friend, said Ennis was into fitness and ``worked out all the time.''

``He was a hero for everybody - he is what every family would like to have as a son,'' Schlatter said. ``He will be missed, not (just) by his family and friends. He will be missed by everybody who has hope in the youth in this country. It's sad, very sad.''

Shepherd said that she met Cosby in 1993.

``He talked with us about spending the holidays with a girlfriend in California,'' she said.

``Ennis was committed to a life of social service, he really wanted to make a difference in other people's lives,'' Shepherd said. ``He had come to believe that teaching was a way to do that - he was particularly interested in teaching students who had learning problems who came from poor families.''

She said that Cosby was outgoing and social. ``He made friends very easily,'' she said. ``The other students in program were very fond of him.''

``He always had people around him.''

Shepherd said that he also worked as an intern teacher at a public school in a neighborhood near the college.

She said she recalled Cosby as a determined, consummate educator and for his ``great good nature.''

``What a pleasure to spend time in his presence,'' she said. ``We felt that he had a wonderful future ahead of him as an educator.''

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PHOTO Ennis Cosby

Aspired to help disabled youths