Anthony Mason introduces singer Trini Lopez, DJ and songwriter Bill Mack Overnight, pioneering winemaker Milla Handley, Texas hospice chaplain Adolfo Alvarado, Jr. and LAPD senior detention officer Erica McAdoo.
Trini López, who scored international good fortune with “If I Had a Hammer” in 1963, died of COVID-19 on August 11. He was 83.
“If I Had a Hammer” rankd first in 36 countries. The following year, in France, Lopez took first place with the Beatles.
“Me in Paris with the Beatles at the Olympia Theatre,” Lopez told Dick Clark in 1964. “It’s wild. “
Lopez was born in the Little Mexico neighborhood of Dallas, but his first label sought to hide his legacy and replace his name.
“He says that Trini is fine, that Lopez has to go. You see prejudice,” Lopez said, in a documentary by The Ebersole Hughes Company titled “My Name Is Lopez. “
He refused and then signed through Frank Sinatra on his Reprise label, where he had his hit series. He has become a regular in Las Vegas, starred in films such as “The Dirty Dozen” and also designed two guitars for Gibson that have become collectors. ‘classics.
Bill Mack, a Texas night DJ running the long-distance trucking company, died of coronavirus headaches on July 31.
Mack, known on the radio as “Midnight Cowboy”, wrote songs. LeAnn Rimes’ recording of “Blue” in 1996 won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song and the ACM Award for Song of the Year.
“Thanks to LeAnn Rimes who picked up an old man and gave him new hope,” Mack told the ACM Awards.
Another Mack song, “Drinking Champagne”, has a country classic. Willie Nelson played it with him in 2009.
“Country music fans, in my opinion, are the most dedicated, allied, grateful and encouraging people you’ll ever meet,” Mack told the Texas Heritage Composers Association in 2014. “I need other people to know the fact, that I appreciated those other people. God bless you, what you have done for me, taking the time to pay attention to you. “
Milla Handley, a pioneer woman in the wine world, died of COVID-19 on July 25 at the age of 68.
Founder of Handley Cellars in Anderson Valley, California, she was the first woman in the country to create a winery in her name.
Handley produced his first harvest, 250 copies of chardonnay, in the basement of his space in 1982.
“She established her taste and stood firm,” said lead winemaker Randy Schock.
Handley paved the way for other women, adding her daughter, Lulu McClellan, now president of Handley Cellars, who said “her shoes are incredibly big to fill. “
Handley was passionate about driving and enjoyed the 1959 Mercedes she inherited from her mother.
“His favorite moments,” Schock said, “were to reduce the roof and get that car out and drive it to the beach. “
Adolfo Alvarado Jr. , a chaplain from South Texas, died of coronavirus headaches on July 25 at age 70.
“Fito,” as his circle of family and friends called him, worked for 30 years as a technician at Southwestern Bell.
In his youth he was a player who enjoyed horses, but after an “encounter with God”, Fito has become a pastor, faithful to his church and his family.
In recent years, he had comforted palliative care patients until he himself fell this summer.
“She was the kindest and simplest user to communicate with,” said her daughter Amanda Vair. “It’s a little hard to know that the phone might not ring, because my dad literally called me every day. “
Erica McAdoo, a senior detention officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, died of COVID-19 on July 3 and is 39.
“She’s been the peacemaker for the prison,” McAdoo’s mother Donna Royston said. “When someone was very combative, he was the user of the selection so that those other people would calm down. “
Royston and McAdoo had a caterer.
McAdoo had just been promoted when she got sick. Her friends tried to gather her for 97 days in intensive care and sent a video of them dancing to one of her favorite songs, “Softly,” which she listens to. After his death, his colleagues celebrated his life on the beach.
“We simply sought to do everything she loved, ” said Catherine Alvarado.
“I missed her so much, ” said her mother, “it’s the same without her. “
Jack Turnbull, a prestigious coach and acting instructor in Los Angeles, died of coronavirus headaches on June 14.
“Remember it’s a muscle. You have to work,” he told his students.
He has noticed that more than a hundred clients are successful in television and film, adding Hailee Steinfeld and Victoria Justice.
At Actorsite, a company she founded, Turnbull rooted her academics with “wrong” enthusiasm, said Kimberly Crandall, actress and teacher. “It made everyone feel what they’re worth,” he says.
Turnbull raising three children with his wife, Jessa, whom he met in the Philippines in 2009.
“I felt as if I had discovered my Mr. Perfect, ” said Jessa. “And that’s why I fell in love with him so quickly. . . He’s so special to everyone and me. “
Mary J. Wilson, the first senior African-American caretather at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, died of COVID-19 on May 21 at age 83.
He began running at the zoo in 1961, with only a high school degree and a love of animals.
“She is simply an extremely brave woman,” said her daughter Sharron Wilson Jackson, adding that she is “a woman without luxuries. “
Wilson walked through the blizzards to get to the paintings and faced off without fear of free animals, even catching the monkeys escaping in the air.
“She is well known for her bravery at the zoo,” Wilson Jackson said. “At a time when things became a little confusing or things got a little complicated, she just took over. productive interests of the animal.
Wilson spent his entire career in zoo mammal space worrying about gorillas, elephants and big cats before retiring in 1999.
Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, a White House worker whose tenure saw 11 other presidents, died of coronavirus on May 16, his granddaughter, Jamila Garrett, told the WTTC station in Washington, DC on 91.
Jerman began his career as a White House cleaner under Eisenhower’s presidency in 1957 and retired as a butler under Obama in 2012.
“My grandfather was an authentic, family-loving man,” Garrett told WTTG reporter Shawn Yancy. “He has been at the service of others. No matter who you were, what you did or what you needed, whatever he could offer, He did. “
His grandfather’s friendship with Jackie Kennedy Onassis helped him be promoted to butler.
“She played a key to this happening,” she said.
Garrett also recounted his grandfather’s tenure under the presidency of George W. Bush, and said Jerman sat down with a young George W. Bush when he struggled to sleep while adjusting to life in the White House.
“He has taught us that there will be obstacles in his life. Still, they may not go away. No matter your status, no matter what your role or what you do, there will be obstacles. But keep moving forward, ” she said.
Leslie Lamar Parker, a technical specialist in a Minneapolis school district, died of coronavirus headaches on May 11 after a two-week war with the disease at age 31.
Parker, a lifelong resident of Minneapolis, met his wife Whitney Parker through his mutual friends studies. They left, married in 2012 and raised two children together.
“His first laughs came from his father, ” said Whitney. ” When I told Zuri that her father had passed away, she cried and then said, ‘It’s okay because Dad’s with all my other favorite people and all my heroes. ”. He’s with Dad, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, and he doesn’t need me to be sad. ‘”
Whitney said Parker dreamed of being published and that this was the last wish on her wish list.
When he struck the pandemic, he wrote an essay on how he approached his circle of relatives: “I may not realize how ruthless the virus was to other people like me. I probably wouldn’t communicate about my concern for my wife, who suffers from severe asthma,” Parker wrote. “Instead, I’ll take care of the conversations we had at our Sunday dinner. “
Shortly after his death, Parker’s essay was published through the gastronomic journalism website, The Counter.
“My husband can this last article on the wish list,” Whitney wrote to the editor. “I am very grateful. My center is so full. “
Charles “Rob” Roberts, a senior New Jersey police officer, died of COVID-19 headaches on May 11. He was 45.
Raised in Livingston, New Jersey, Roberts joined the Glen Ridge Police Department in 2000 and moved into rule with his wife and raised three children. He called the “face” of his branch and a “brilliant example of an officer committed to serving the community. “
“It was the dream of a lifetime” to be a policeman, said his wife Alice. “He, the cop everyone was looking to show on the level because he made a connection, made other people feel like humans. “
As a father, Alice said he was “understanding” and offered as a local baseball and football coach. “The other young men and fathers appreciated that he never screamed, never belittled the young. He was positive,” he said.
The day before his sinking in his war with COVID-19, he had and assembled a hockey shooter for his children.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Roberts “is the highest number of officers you’ll likely notice running and reading with young people or raising money for one smart cause or another. “
His 10-year-old son, Gavin, took his mother and two sisters, over the age of 15 and 12, to Roberts’ funeral courtship while wearing his father’s police cap.
Roberts ascended superhumously and was buried as Sergeant Roberts.
Jimmy Glenn, owner of the well-known New York bar Jimmy’s Corner, died of coronavirus headaches on May 7.
Glenn, a former amateur boxer and boxer, opened Jimmy’s Corner in Times Square in 1971. The New York Times said it had turned it into a “boxing sanctuary,” filled with posters and photographs of Glenn with Muhammed Ali, who was a friend. He opened a boxing gym that is now close only seven years later.
The bar, however, survived for decades, which the community around it dramatically replaced. Thanks to low costs and friendly owners, Glenn stayed in business and attracted boxing fans, promoters, athletes and celebrities for years.
Following the news of Glenn’s death, tributes came from global boxing and abroad.
Actress Amy Schumer posted a photo of her with Glenn on Instagram, writing “Rest in peace Jimmy. Covid took over beloved boxing coach and owner Jimmy Glenn. I’m going to miss seeing you and loving you. “
While Jimmy’s Corner closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, his son, Adam Glenn, said he would reopen.
Michael Halkias, owner of a luxurious dining room in Brooklyn, New York, died of coronavirus-related headaches on May 6.
Halkias’ “Grand Prospect Hall” was noted for the long-running commercials he starred in with his wife, Alice, which were forged through “Saturday Night Live” and comic Jimmy Kimmel. The couple bought the position in 1981 and spent two years renovating it before it opened.
“I wanted to fix it for everyone, ” said Alice.
A lover of Greek culture and his family, Halkias met his wife when he ran a company in 1966. He had sold him a price ticket to Greece for profit and presented it to him on his return. They had married from 1967 until his recent death.
“I was the luckiest woman I could be, ” said Alice. “He told me several times a day that he enjoyed me. “
His daughter, Josephine Halkias-Tsarnas, broke the news of her father’s death on Facebook.
“I never imagined that my trip to Aruba in February would be the last time I would be with my parents,” she wrote, adding that she had been her father’s secretary at 14 and thought of him as her idol. “I write this with an empty heart, a void that will never fill. “
Kevin Thomas Tarrant, former CEO of American Indians Community House NYC, died of COVID-19 headaches on May 4.
Born in New Jersey as a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona, Tarrant has dedicated his life to preserving his Native American community, according to an obituary.
Tarrant was musically susceptible and founded a world famous Aboriginal drum band called The SilverCloud Singers which performed at notable venues such as Madison Square Garden and the Apollo Theater. As a soloist, he has conducted with bands and a cappella artists and has also performed He was a composer and percussionist for the Broadway production, “Ajijaack on Turtle Island. “
In 2016, Tarrant sought to magnify native American voices through the founding of Safe Harbors NYC with his wife, playwright and director Murielle Borst-Tarrant. The artistic initiative focuses on the progression and production of Aboriginal theatre and performing arts.
A friend said Tarrant and his wife met when they were teenagers when they played powwows and that the total circle of relatives played to combine and “intertwine in the lives of others. “
Tarrant is survived by his wife, daughter and father.
Pastor Kendall Pierre, Sr. , who preached at Mount. Zion Baptist Church in Ama, Louisiana, died of coronavirus headaches on May 2 at age 45.
In addition to being a pastor, Pierre was a basketball coach for the Southeastern Louisiana Warriors and ran a hairdresser named Pierre’s Barber and Beauty Salon.
“Many other people have benefited from loose recommendations in this barber’s chair,” said his wife Sabrina Pierre.
The couple met while running at McDonald’s, married in 1996 and raised three children together.
“My husband is amazing, ” he said. ” He spoiled me and my children. “
She called Peter a “happy man” and “determined” who “spent his whole life serving others,” his children.
“He is our handyman, our cable company, all trades. He grew up without a father, so he invested everything. He made sure he was on each and every occasion,” he said.
When he hit the coronavirus pandemic, Peter taught the Bible through a video before getting sick.
“Today is another little for me. I am in church and I felt that I had to come to the house of the Lord to make this special presentation,” you can hear in a video.
More than 800 witnessed Pierre’s awakening to Zion Mountain.
Krist Angielen Castro Guzman, a Chicago nurse who gave birth to her third child in December 2019, died of COVID-19 headaches on May 2 and was 35 years old.
As a nurse at Meadowbrook Senior Facility, Guzman worked on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic, doing everything he could to keep his elderly patients safe.
His cousin, Jeschlyn Pilar, said Guzman enjoyed the thrill of his paintings and his people.
“She liked to be considered a fitness professional. She’s proud of her work,” she says.
With a father in the U. S. Navy, Guzman moved around the developing world, living in Japan, California, and Iceland before reuniting her husband, who also worked at Meadowbrook as an ANC in Chicago.
The two had three children in combination: Livvy, 6, Xavi, 5 and baby Leandro, born in December and named after Guzman’s uncle, a Philippine surgeon who also died of COVID-19 headaches in March.
“[His children] his pride and joy,” said his sister, Kayla Aleksei Clayton. “She really enjoyed her husband. They idolized themselves. “
Marion Welenz Hedrick, a great-grandmother and Air Force veteran, died of coronavirus headaches on April 30.
Hedrick served in the United States Air Force as a second-class pilot before being appointed to paint at the Pentagon in the 1950s and then moved to the White House, where she was an assistant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
As a member of the Oklahoma Veteran Women’s Organization, Hedrick designed the officer on the band’s flag.
She married her late husband, Edward, in 1960, and the couple raised five children together.
“They have done almost everything in combination in their later years, ” said his daughter Catherine Armstrong. “He told her [she was] so beautiful. “
She Hedrick a “champion for her children. “
In addition to his impressive résumé, Hedrick had experience in classical piano and enjoyed singing and sewing. She became interested in art later in life and won awards for her paintings.
Hedrick will be buried with army honors at Arlington National Cemetery in November.
Johng Kuk Pyun, who lived the immigrant’s story about the American dream, died of coronavirus on April 29 at age 82.
Pyun worked as an interpreter for the United States Army in South Korea. In 1976, at the age of 39, he emigrated to the United States with his wife and four children.
“He sacrificed himself so much to give us a better life,” said his daughter SuJean Sackin. “He’s so tenacious. “
Arriving at $500, Pyun built a thriving dry cleaning business in Los Angeles and advised other South Korean immigrants, helping them stay informed about how to run their own businesses, Sackin said.
“Many of them worked at the company for a few weeks or months until they acquired the wisdom and experience to become owners of their own businesses,” he said. “My father was a bit like a forgotten hero. “
Dr. James A. Mahoney, a pneumologist in the intensive care unit, died of COVID-19 headaches on April 27.
Mahoney, nicknamed “Charlie,” began as a student at SunY Downstate Medical Center in 1982 before working there as a pneumologist and professor.
“He would bring out the most productive thing about you and not abandon you,” said Dr. Julien Cavanagh, who was his former intern, resident and then colleague. “I had this ability to make you feel safe, to reassure you. “
Mahoney, a mentor to other minority doctors, said his colleagues.
The celebrated doctor who contemplated retiring when the coronavirus pandemic occurred, but instead continued to treat patients, and even after contracting the disease, called patients to control them.
Mahoney died in the same hospital where he had worked for about 40 years.
Henri Kichka, one of the last Holocaust survivors in Belgium, died of coronavirus headaches on April 25 at the age of 94.
Kichka was born into a circle of Polish Jewish relatives in 1926. In 1942, when Germany invaded Brussels, he and his father were sent to a forced labour camp, while his mother and two sisters were sent to Auschwitz, where they were soon killed.
In 1945, towards the end of World War II, his father died in the Buchenwald concentration camp, making Kichka the only member of his family circle to survive.
After years of silence, Kichka began to share his delight in Belgian schools. He even accompanied schoolchildren on trips to Auschwitz, becoming his project to teach other young people about the atrocities committed in the war. 2005.
Illustrator and cartoonist Michel Kichka, son of Henri Kichka, posted his father’s on Facebook.
“A small microscopic coronavirus succeeded where the entire Nazi army had failed,” he wrote. “My father had survived the death march, but he ended his way of life. “
Samantha Wissinger, a nurse from Michigan, died of coronavirus headaches on April 24 at the age of 29.
Wissinger worked at Beaumont Hospital, where her husband Markus had a “sect. “
“Everybody loves it, ” he said. On his last day in the hospital when he died, his unit has six, seven nurses. Half the nurses were allowed to take a break and come with them. Even your boss came here.
Wissinger, a level 3 breast cancer and level 4 brain cancer survivor, met her husband on a dating site. Markus described her as before, and brave. They were about to celebrate their first birthday in June.
His intelligent friend, Sam Baughman, said Wissinger was “very kind and compassionate” and a “big concerned person. “
“We’ve been friends for over 20 years. More like sisters,” she said.
Markus said the couple rushed to turn a bus into a recreational vehicle when she got sick and died.
“I’m going to do this and turn it into a sanctuary for her, ” he said.
Valentina Blackhorse, who worked as a government administrator for the Navajo Nation, died of coronavirus headaches on April 23.
Blackhorse dreamed of one day leading his other parents as a delegate to the Navajo Nation Council or even as president of the Navajo Nation. A former festival queen, she was proud of her Native American heritage.
“I need to be remembered as someone who had huge goals, goals, someone looking to help their community,” said Robby Jones, Blackhorse’s boyfriend and father of his one-year-old daughter, Poet. the Navajo Nation as much as it could. He would do anything and everything for his circle of relatives just to help them. “
The reserve, which covers 3 southwestern states, has been greatly affected by coronavirus, with one of the country’s infection rates.
When Jones hit the virus, Blackhorse left Poet with her grandparents while she looked after him, and then she got sick herself.
“She gave so much and never asked for anything in return, ” said Blackhorse’s sister, Vanielle. “He’s a donor. “
Joyce Pacubas-Le Blanc, who worked as a nurse in Chicago for more than 30 years, died of coronavirus headaches on April 23 at age 53.
A colleague and friend said Pacubas-Le Blanc, a triage nurse in the extensive care unit at the University of Illinois Hospital, “took care of those in need. “
Pacubas-Le Blanc arrived in Chicago at the age of 7 from the Philippines and she and her husband, Lawrence Le Blanc, raised two children, aged 19 and 21.
“That’s what’s happened to me, ” said Le Blanc. ” I went to sleep with the luckiest guy in the world and woke up the saddest guy in the world. “
He described Pacubas-Le Blanc as “the kind of user who would feed you, dress you, know you or not. “
“Mold was damaged after birth. There will never be another one like her,” she said.
Inez Gonzalez, a criminal officer at Edgecomb Center in New York, died of COVID-19 headaches on April 20. She was 55.
Nicknamed “Mama T,” Gonzalez, the “family rock,” according to her niece Jessica Gorfine.
“He told me to just help other people, to help as many other people as possible,” he said. “She sought out the most productive thing for me and made me the user I am. “
Gonzalez’s wife, Rosa, “his queen, ” said Gorfine. The couple had been in combination for 30 years and married for 12 years. They raised three daughters in combination.
Gorfine said Gonzalez is contemplating retirement and the couple talk about moving to Florida.
“Towards the end, I was just looking to retire and be with the family,” Gorfine said. “Her children are in college and she just sought to live an undeniable life and a life satisfied with RosaArray. worked very hard to check it out. “
Gene Shay, a legendary radio DJ in Philadelphia, died of coronavirus on April 17 at the age of 85.
The dean of the Philadelphia scene has been in the air for over 50 years.
Shay and his wife, Gloria, took Bob Dylan to Philadelphia for the first time. Joni Mitchell made his debut with his song “Both Sides Now” on Shay’s show. He co-founded and presented the Philadelphia Folk Festival.
For Shay’s last exhibition in 2015, more than a hundred musicians serenaded him.
His daughter, Rachel, said his father was “super passionate” about his radio screen, despite working full-time as an advertising manager.
“He showed up on the next show, on the next one,” he said. “He was an advertising executive as his main career, however, he spent all his time not advertising his folk music.
Steve Dalkowski, a minor league baseball pitcher who encouraged Tim Robbins’ character in “Bull Durham,” died of coronavirus headaches on April 19. Dalkowski 80.
A minor leaguer in his career, Dalkowski set retirement records anywhere he played in the 1960s. However, no matter how fast his pitches were, Dalkowski himself said they were also “out of control. “
Former major league pitcher Nolan Ryan said Dalkowski “threw a ball faster than ever,” in an interview for the documentary “Fastball. “
Ryan, who has never met Dalkowski himself, said he “is a legend. “
“It had the equivalent of Michelangelo’s gift, but he could never finish a painting,” said Ron Shelton, director of Bull Durham.
Senior Sergeant Bennie Adkins, winner of the Medal of Honor, died On April 17 in Alabama after fighting the coronavirus.
His more than 20 years in the U. S. Army, adding thirteen as a green beret and 3 missions in Vietnam. In 2014, he awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor through former President Barack Obama for his heroism in a 1966 battle, where he transported wounded infants. to protection while fighting the attack forces.
His Medal of Honor quote praised his “extraordinary heroism and disinterest” while maintaining 18 other injuries to his body.
Adkins leaves 3 children, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Simon Press, a gym instructor from New Jersey, died of coronavirus on April 16.
Press, known for his moderate wit and unlimited enthusiasm, worked at The College Achieve Greater Asbury Park Charter School in New Jersey and had been at the local Boys and Girls Club since he was 18.
“He can make each and every person, large or small, feel important,” said his boss, Principal Jodi McInerney. “Its purpose is to give academics a better life than their parents. “
Raised in Asbury Park, Press played semi-professional football and planned to watch the NFL this season.
When the pandemic closed the school, he gave Zoom gymnastics categories, before falling ill.
“I was looking to turn the negative into positive,” Press’ mother Sabrina Slaughter said. “I’m very, very proud of my son. “
Saul Moreno, owner of a Mexican restaurant that has become a mainstay in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, died of coronavirus on April 15.
“I remembered every single face that went through the door,” said his daughter, Daisy. He “loved his Array clients . . . as friends”.
Moreno came to the United States from Mexico City at the age of thirteen and then got a job at a seafood restaurant.
With his wife Maria helping in the kitchen, he opened his own restaurant, Restaurante Cuetzala, in 2005 and spent almost every day cooking and welcoming guests.
His good luck would send the 3 young men to college.
The family circle plans to keep the place open for lunch, Daisy said, in tribute to him.
Allen Daviau, a cinematographer who made his breakthrough with the hit 1982 film “E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” died coVID-19 on April 15 at age 77.
Daviau known as a master of gentleness. Watching color television at age 12 began his “fascination with the generation of kindness and photography,” he said.
At first, he met a young Steven Spielberg, whom he as director of photography for “E. T. “, “The Purple Color” and “The Empire of the Sun. “
Daviau and Spielberg seemed to express “a sense of astonishment” at the appearance of things, Colman Andrews, daviau’s friend, said for nearly 60 years. “I think they reacted strongly to the children and to the sense of wonder that other people would have done when they found out about things. “
Daviau won the American Society of Directors of Photography Excellence Award in 2007 and has won Oscar nominations.
“You have to run dangers to locate yourself,” Daviau said in a CSA speech.
In a statement, Spielberg said that “Daviau and humanity were as harsh as their goal. “
“He has a singular ability and a charming human being,” Spielberg said.
Joseph Feingold, architect and Holocaust survivor who was belatedly identified in the 2016 documentary “Joe’s Violin”, died of COVID-19 on April 15.
Born in Warsaw, Feingold was sent to Siberia at the age of 17 and spent six years in labor camps. His mother and brother were killed by the Nazis.
Feingold came to the United States in 1948 with a violin he received from an industry for a cardboard of cigarettes after the war.
The documentary about her resolve to donate the tool in 2014 to a school and the 12-year-old woman who played it nominated for an Oscar.
Attention has baffled Feingold. ” What did I do?” question in the documentary.
“You never gave up, ” replied Brianna, the woman who had her violin.
Keenan Duffy, a father of two children from Lafayette, Louisiana, died of a coronavirus on April 14, age 39.
Duffy had taken her mother to the hospital where she had coronavirus tests, before ending up in the same hospital a week and a part later.
His wife, Kerstin, with whom he raised his daughter-in-law Simone and his 11-year-old son Kaden, said Duffy had a high fever when he became ill.
Kaden remembered his father as “a great support” in his activities and in football.
“He would be there at each and every game,” Kaden told CBS News’ David Begnaud. “I was on the sidelines saying to come in and catch them.
José Fontanez, the first Boston police officer to die from COVID-19, died on April 14.
Fontanez, a 29-year veteran of the police force after joining in 1991, spent 24 years in the same position in Jamaica Plain.
His friend, Detective David Martinez, said Fontanez was the “greatest soul. “
“He treated other people with kindness, respect, love and that had an effect on his family,” he said.
“He cared about his family, all of us, ” said his son, Keaton Fontanez. “He called. It helped me move . . . he’s a much-loved man. “
Keaton said his father liked action movies, ’70s and ’80s music and was a big fan of Boston sports teams.
On Fontanez’s death, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said at a press conference: “We lost a hero today to this virus. We honor him and him as a hero because as a police officer he served our network and put himself in danger by Protect us. “
Fontanez’s coffin escorted him to the cemetery through a police procession. His son called it “an astonishing demonstration of the kind he did and what he did for his city. “
On April 14, Selma Esther Ryan, a Texas local, died of coronavirus headaches, more than a century after her older sister died from the Spanish influenza pandemic at the age of 5.
“They never met,” said their daughter Vicki Spencer, “but now they are in combination. “
Ryan grew up on a Texas farm. After marrying an Air Force pilot, Ryan traveled the world during her husband’s military career in Hong Kong and Ethiopia.
Her daughter described her in a “beautiful voice” and noticed Ryan’s care to make sure his children were well, no matter where they traveled, even when his father was gone.
“He had been gone for 3-6 months straight, but she was adamant. We missed our father, but we knew we had a safe home,” Spencer said, adding that Ryan was also “a perfect cook. “
Spencer’s fathers’ wedding “the love story of the century. “
“We’re going to miss her so much, but we’re 96,” Spencer said.
Billy Birmingham, a former kansas City, Missouri resident, died of COVID-19 headaches on April 13 at the age of 69.
Birmingham was born in a giant circle of relatives and had six children of his own, according to his eldest daughter, Octavia Standley.
As an emergency medical technician at the Kansas City Fire Department, Birmingham sought to help others. His former ambulance partner, Nathan Hopper, said he could “calm” patients and even “sometimes dissuade them from being marginalized. “
“He’s passionate about his work, he had a lot of fun,” Hopper said. It’s a wonderful partnership. “
Standley recalled that he awoke and listened to his father, an ordained shepherd, pray in the morning. She said she and her brothers had learned “morality and ethics. “
“He was a shepherd, so was I. He’s had his own church since I was young, he spoke to his heart,” she says.
Standley said his father was “a wonderful, very funny personality” and said he surprised his children on strange occasions with a fishing break or some other way to spend time together.
“He provides his pocket to people, ” he said. ” He had a very intelligent heart. “
Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, the mother of Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, fought coronavirus for a month and died on April 13 at the age of 58.
“It has been very difficult for me and my family, to say the least. She is the head of the family. She is the boss,” Towns said.
Cruz-Towns, who with his son when he was number one in the 2015 NBA draft, did not miss a single game in his first season.
“His condition is palpable,” Towns’ circle of relatives said in a statement. “And his power will never be replaced. “
Ann Sullivan, an ink artist portrayed in many former Disney films, died of COVID-19 headaches on April 13, days after her 91st birthday.
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, Sullivan moved to Los Angeles in 1949, where she got a job with Walt Disney in her cartoon lab.
Sullivan gave up his task of raising his four children. But after a divorce, she joined Disney to paint in films and add “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King” and “Mulan. “
His daughter Shannon Jay remembers waiting with his mother to see his call in the final credits.
“It’s a great honor, ” he said. For her, come from a small town and get there Array . . . it’s just extraordinary. “
Yasmin Pea, an elderly woman from Waterbury Arts Magnet School in Connecticut, died of COVID-19 headaches on April 12, Easter Sunday. At 18, she was one of the youngest victims of the coronavirus pandemic in Connecticut.
Yasmin, nicknamed “Yazy”, liked to draw, dance and sing. She “Once Upon a December” from “Anastasia”, a favorite of her mother, on her display last year.
After graduating, Yasmin hoped to study fashion at university.
“I had dreamed of going to a four-year school in New York City because itArray, you know, a great fashion school,” said her sister, Madeline Peña. “He was very talented: he drew, sculpted, acted, sang. He had it all, a lot of potential. “
Yasmin felt weak in March and said he had trouble breathing; first he was diagnosed with lupus and then coronavirus.
“Anyone who remembers my sister has no bad memories of her,” Madeline recalls, “because it’s just a ray of sunshine in their lives, I mean, in my life too. “
Carole Ann Hewitt Hamilton, a School Counselor in New York City, died of coronavirus on April 12, Easter Sunday.
Carole and her husband Irving had traveled to Las Vegas for a family circle birthday party in early March, Carole’s cousin Kimberly Ford said. After returning home to Baldwin, New York, Irving began to feel unwell and went to the emergency room. .
“It was the last time she saw her 48-year-old husband,” Ford said in an email.
A week later, Carole didn’t feel well and was nevertheless admitted to the same hospital as her husband, placed on a ventilator while Irving was discharged and died a week later.
Carole has been faithful to New York scholars for more than 33 years as a school counselor, according to an obituary provided to CBS News. She is also a “substitute mother, cheerleader, confidant and mentor to thousands of scholars,” says the obituary.
Carole enjoyed her circle of relatives and was described as the “cement” she held attached to her circle of relatives, Ford said.
Photographer Anthony Causi, who covered sports for the New York Post for 25 years, died on April 12 of coronavirus. He was 48. Born in Brooklyn, Causi graduated from Pace University and joined The Post as a photo messenger before placing a photo editor and then a full-time journalist.
Causi was a smiling and friendly user in new York area rooms, from Yankee Stadium to Madison Square Garden. His action plans gave an impressive impression on the Post’s sports pages, and he was admired not only by his colleagues but also by the featured players he recounted.
His uncle, Joe Causi, a WCBS-FM radio personality, said his nephew took volunteer photographs at Small League events.
On March 22, Causi posted a photo of himself on Instagram breathing through a respirator: “I never thought I’d get anything like this. I think I’m indestructible, it’ll locate what hit him. “
Major League Baseball called Causi an “extraordinary sports photojournalist” and said he “brings out players and other people in our national pastime. “
Robby Browne, a true New York All-Star real estate broker, died of COVID-19 on April 11 at age 72.
Browne’s clients included Rosie O’Donnell, Uma Thurman and Alec Baldwin, but his friends knew him as a flutist who joined other people. A leader in the LGBTQ community raised millions for charity after his brother’s death from AIDS.
In 1994, he competed as a diver at the Gay Games and its division. His friend, Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis, rewarded him with a kiss, one of the first gay kisses to be broadcast in major media.
In a documentary about him directed through his friend Jeff Dupré, Browne said, “I enjoyed the path I discovered because I know it’s very difficult to get your way into life. . . I need other people to live and be proud of who they are, because there’s not much time. “
Dan Spano, a non-public teacher from Connecticut, died of COVID-19 on April 11. He was 30 years old.
Spano owned a GYMGUYZ franchise with his roommate Jimmy Bonavita and Sam Langer.
“He has a wonderful mind, ” said Spano’s first client, Mark Brooks. “I was so engaged. I mean, we enjoyed it. “
Many of Spano’s clients were part of his family. One of them, named Rodrigo Placido, said they “saw each other 3 or 4 times a week” and Spano “loved” his children.
Spano’s sister Melissa said one of his favorite memories is that he made a song his favorite song, “Tiny Dancer”, “to the fullest.
Spano “in love” with her 3-month-old niece, Adrianna, Melissa said. “It breaks my center that I don’t get to know Uncle Dan,” he says.
Spano had no underlying conditions, according to his sister. He’s perfectly healthy, ” he said. ” Maybe it’s anybody. “
Dr. Delutha King, known as “Dee”, and his wife, Lois Weaver King, died of coronavirus on April 3 and 10, respectively, at the age of 96.
The couple met in Chicago in the early 1960s, when Weaver King was a dental hygienist, while King was a resident of Howard University School of Medicine and only visited the city at the time.
“They were very much in love, ” said their son, Ron Loving. ” My father, in particular, very willing to help others. My mother, very supportive in her efforts to help her in her practice, with social events, through her concern in the network activities and that kind of thing.
Loving said her parents “mixed well” and described her mother as “very stubborn” while her father was more secretive.
A full doctor, King was the first black physician at VA Hospital in Alabama and then co-founded the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia and the Health First Foundation.
One of her friends, Sally Warner, said they were “the people. “
Warner said King was “the kindest and sweetest,” while Weaver King was “more of a sister” than a friend.
She said the couple were inseparable and that she cared about Weaver King when she found out her husband was gone.
“I prayed and prayed, Lord, when you take one, please take the other, ” he said. “I couldn’t stand the concept that one happens without the other. “
Dr. Changkiu Keith Riew, a chemist who led studies and progression in B. F. Goodrich, died of coronavirus headaches on April 9, 91.
Born in Seoul, Riew served in the South Korean Army during the Korean War and escaped North Korean captivity before moving to the United States in 1962 for examination at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Riew’s wife, whom he met in fourth grade and whom he married for 68 years, later joined him in the United States with his three children.
“It’s the best love story, ” said his granddaughter, Kaitlyn Kim. “They’ve spent so much together. “
At B. F. Goodrich in Ohio, Riew has received patents and is the author of two books on “Hardened Plastics”.
Kim credits his grandfather’s hard paintings and prolific career for inspiring his circle of relatives to succeed.
All of his grandchildren went to college, some of them graduated with a graduate degree. “I hope he’s encouraged that a lot, ” he said.
Prea Nankieshore, an emergency employee in New York City, died of COVID-19 on April 8 at age 34.
Nankieshore, the first user other people saw in the emergency room, searching patients at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, a hospital in Queens, New York.
Mother of 8-year-old twins, “pre-a walking angel,” said her fiancé Markus Kahn, who had known her since high school. “He’s the greatest selfless user I’ve ever met. “
Nankieshore “wanted people, ” said his colleague, Dr. Rachel Bruce.
“Even when it was complicated and even scary over the last month to come to work, she was looking to be where she needed it,” Bruce said.
Dr. Ronald Verrier, a New York trauma surgeon, died of coronavirus headaches on April 8 at age 59.
Verrier, the son of a surgeon, was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he met his wife and then moved to the United States, but Verrier returned to help him after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010.
“It’s the pillar of the family, our counselor, our pride,” said his younger sister, Nurse Pascale Verrier.
Verrier, who was director of the general surgery branch of St. John’s Hospital. Barnabas, in the Bronx, was married for 25 years and shared two children and a daughter-in-law with dr. Joanne Verrier, director of the dental residency program at a Harlem hospital.
She called it a “presence” with a “resonant voice,” which he “imposing and learned. “
“He was engaged to his patients. His patients came here first,” he says. “The citizens he begged enjoyed it a lot. “
Verrier had survived an attack on the center in 2014 and had undergone rehabilitation before he could resume surgery two years later.
“That’s why it’s so devastating,” Joanne said. ” He’s already escaped death once. “
His niece, Dr. Christina Pardo, said the family circle hoped to create a scholarship for medical citizens on his behalf.
Mario Araujo, a member of the Chicago Fire Department, died of coronavirus headaches on April 7.
Araujo joined the branch in 2003 and has spent most of his career in Van 25.
“I went to one of my worst fires with him, and he’s an ace,” said Jon Kataoka, a department lieutenant. “He would pass through a brick wall for you.
Araujo came to the United States with his circle of relatives from El Salvador at age 6.
“We all supported him as a firefighter because he was looking for people,” his cousin Christina said, “and that also gave us satisfaction. “
“He’s someone we all admired because he really enjoyed his homework,” he says.
Torrin Howard, an intellectual fitness counselor who cares for at-risk children, died of COVID-19 headaches on April 7.
Standing in 6’3 “Howard, a “soft giant” and “so generous,” said her friend Tiesha Teasley. The two met ten years ago and would celebrate their tenth birthday in May.
“He beyond what I might have wished for me, ” he said. “So having to revel in him no longer being here is very, very, very difficult. He’s the kind of man women only dream of. “
In front of an intellectual fitness counselor at the Boys
“He took his paintings and children very seriously, and he surely enjoyed them,” Teasley said. “Torrin is so motivated to make the most of those children. “
Satash Deonarine, a Guyana-born immigrant and father of three, died of coronavirus on 7 April at the age of 38.
Deonarine and her circle of relatives moved to the United States in 2000 and discovered paintings as a plumber. He met his wife, Menkashi, in a summer in Guyana in 2007, and they married a year later.
His cousin described him as a faithful man in the circle of relatives, whose young men were “his world. “
“He supported his circle of relatives and friends being there for us when we needed him,” he said. “He has 38 cousin brothers with which he grew up as much as his brothers.
She described Deonarine as a fun-loving user who did not have “a serious bone in her body. “He traveled with his wife and children, adding summer adventures at nearby theme parks and Disney, Florida. young people back to Guyana to see where he had grown up.
According to his cousin, he was “the quintessence of a better father. “He had planned his daughter’s first birthday in August.
“There is so much love . . . transparent that her children adored her,” she said.
Veteran character actor Allen Garfield died of coronavirus headaches on April 7 at 80.
During his decades of career, Garfield has made the impression in more than one hundred movies and shows, adding memorable roles in the films “The Conversation” and “The Candidate. ” He played nervous or worried characters.
His birth name is Allen Goorwitz, he excelled as a reporter and boxer for the Golden Gloves before finding his love of theater and his studies at The Actor’s Studio in New York.
Ronee Blakley, the actress who played his wife in the film “Nashville,” posted the news of his death on Facebook.
“I leave my head in tears; condolences to the circle of family and friends,” he wrote.
Hailey Herrera, a student at Iona College, died of coronavirus headaches on April 7. The 25-year-old to an elegance of completing her Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Herrera’s mother, Valerie, said her daughter had a 4. 0 and had “a lot to offer. “
She described Herrera, who was her only child, as “alive, energetic, full of life” but also “a nanny. “
“Everyone sought his advice. Friends would stop by, she would make them feel bigger and say the right words to them,” Valerie Herrera said.
According to her mother, Hailey Herrera intelligently and without pre-existing conditions.
Her friend Aaron Cruz said Herrera not only trained as a therapist at school, but also acted as a therapist for her friends and those around her. He said it was “where his hobby was. “
“I’m on the path of my career and I feel like I’ll physically continue to take it with me as I continue my career,” Cruz said.
Herrera’s mother, Iona College, would honor her beginning in her memory.
The famous composer John Prine, whom Rolling Stone once called “the Mark Twain of American writing,” died in Nashville, Tennessee, from a coronavirus on April 7, according to his family.
Prine, an army veteran and two-time cancer survivor, won a Grammy in early 2020 for a four-decade career in which he was acclaimed by music giants such as Bob Dylan and Bette Midler. Her songs have been covered by artists old and new like Johnny Cash, Carly Simon, Miranda Lambert, and the Old Crow Medicine Show.
“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert revered Prine last week when he was hospitalized, sharing an unheard-of duo between the two starting in 2016. The comic also lamented the musician’s death in a tweet on Tuesday.
Carolyn Martins-Reitz and his son Thomas Martins died of COVID-19 days apart. She lost her war on March 28 at the age of 55, and died on April 6, when she turned 30.
Carolyn’s number one pastime is making sure her son, who had Down syndrome, is satisfied and active, said her husband and Thomas stepfather, Rudy Reitz.
“Thomas enjoyed everything and everyone. I enjoyed basketball and spending time with friends. I enjoyed the movies. He enjoyed his Pokémon and enjoyed life in general,” Reitz said.
Carolyn “an incredibly talented artist” who enjoyed painting, Reitz said. She worked as a graphic designer for the Archdiocese of Newark and several magazines in New York, she said.
Raymond Copeland, a sanitation employee and single father, died of coronavirus headaches on April 5 at age 46.
Copeland, who lived in New York, raised only three daughters after his mother’s death. His eldest daughter, Naeemah Seifullah, said he accepted three jobs at any given time.
“I enjoyed putting smiles on other people’s faces,” he says. “He made small gestures of kindness, took you to lunch, gave you small memories, thinking of someone else. “
Seifullah said Copeland was “in heaven” for being the grandfather of two young children and tried to spend time with them.
In 2015, Copeland joined the sanitation branch and met his fiancée, Tameka Robinson.
“I like a queen, ” said Robinson.
She said Copeland was “friendly and generous” and that the two enjoyed it together.
“He was a wonderful guy, he worked hard, he took care of his circle of family and friends,” he said.
Lee Fierro, who died on Sunday, April 5 in Ohio of COVID-19 headaches at the age of 91, a level actress who had only a handful of film credits, but her first thief. Scene: Ms. Kintner, mother of a boy killed by a shark, in Steven Spielberg’s 1974 blockbuster “Shark. “With metal fire, he confronts Sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider), whom he blames for his son’s death, with a slap in the face.
Fierro had given up acting to raise his family, and at first rejected the role because, in a 25-birthday documentary interview, he did not settle for saying “four-letter words” in his confrontation with Scheider. They have become a physical scene. ” It’s a quiet scene,” Fierro said. “All very quiet. Even the birds. ” She reprised her role in the 1987 sequel “Shark: Revenge”.
As a resident of Martha’s Vineyard (where “Shark” was filmed), Fierro worked with the local theater company, Island Theatre Workshop, performing and directing productions and educating many young people. For 25 years, she was its artistic director.
“She is my instructor and mentor,” Kevin Ryan, the band’s current artistic director and president, told Martha’s Vineyard Times. “She is fiercely faithful to the teaching project. She would, in any case, stay there and do the job. “
Kimarlee Nguyen, an English instructor at Brooklyn Latin School in New York, died of COVID-19 on April 5 and is 33.
Born to Cambodian immigrants Vy Yeng and Hai Van Nguyen, Nguyen played rugby at Vassar College before being an instructor and writer. Her paintings have been published in literary magazines and she has been named Emerging Writer Fellow at the Center for Fiction in 2018.
His cousin, Tina Yeng, said Nguyen “could brighten up any room he enters” and that he “loved his family circle more than anything. “
“Whenever he had a chance to come home, he was with us,” he says. “She was more than a cousin to me. She was a sister I never had.
At school, Nguyen a “happy teacher” who enjoyed through her students.
Michael Caputo, a fellow instructor at Brooklyn Latin, described her as “the kind of student instructors who feared as much as they wanted” because of his fierce ethics in painting.
“She drove them, kissed them, criticized them, celebrated them and laughed with them and was there for them,” he wrote on Facebook.
One of his scholars wrote on a tribute page: “You saw something in me that I did not see in Array. I know you’re looking at us all and you’re still in us. “
Vitalina Williams, a Massachusetts resident, died on April 4 after contracting the coronavirus, her husband told CBS News.
Before succumbing to her illness, Williams worked at Walmart and the Market Basket supermarket chain as a key employee. She last worked at the grocery store on March 26 when her husband, David Williams, said she felt sick. Two other affiliates at the Market Basket store in Salem also tested positive for COVID-19.
Growing up in Guatemala in a civil war, Williams emigrated to the United States with the goal of earning enough money to return before reuniting with her husband. The couple dated for 3 years and married for 19 years.
David Williams, his wife, gave her a “goal” and described her as “extremely hard-working. “
He said he liked gardening and cooking and “always had energy” despite having two other jobs.
“Before I met her, I was almost aimless,” he said. “I’m in love with her, but I follow the crowd, because everyone enjoyed her. “
Dr. Julie Butler, a veterinarian who ran 145th Street Animal Hospital in Harlem for 3 decades, died of coronavirus headaches on April 4.
Butler a “remarkable woman, ” said her husband, Claude Howard. ” Very strong, fierce, very determined. “
The only African-American graduate in her elegance at Cornell Veterinary Medicine School, she is president of the New York Veterinary Medicine Association.
“My mother decided to start her business in Harlem, which was seriously neglected, and was committed to serving the other people of Harlem, even at a time when many were not interested in providing care to those who lived and worked there. “said Zora, daughter of Butler Told Howard.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he led efforts to stabilize veterinary care.
“I had a lot more to give, in times like now,” said Dr. George Korin of NY SAVE, co-founder of the nonprofit Dr. Butler.
Tom Dempsey, a former New Orleans Saints kicker who has set a record for box purpose for more than four decades, died of coronavirus headaches on April 4.
Dempsey, who suffered from dementia in his later years, was an NFL legend. The football star was born with no maximum hands on his right hand and no feet on his right foot. He then played 11 seasons in the league, and the special shoe that wore his career record and is now in the Professional Football Hall of Fame.
After the announcement of his death, Saints players and today turned to social media so as not to forget Dempsey and his incredible career.
Lila Fenwick, the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School, died of COVID-19 on April 4 at the age of 87.
Fenwick broke down barriers in 1956 when she graduated from Harvard Law, just six years after being admitted to school, continued her career as a human rights officer at the United Nations and specialized in the fight against discrimination.
His friend and former neighbor, Thomas Alamo, described Fenwick as “a very intelligent and witty person. “
“She can just communicate with you about anything, ” he said.
Fenwick’s cousin, David Colby Reed, who was also appointed tutor when he suffered from dementia in his later years, said that “all his heritage” would be long-term for academics and academics.
“Lila Fenwick was a common leader who committed her career with the United Nations to protect the human rights of everyone else around the world,” said John F. Manning, Dean Morgan and Helen Chu of Harvard Law School. “Your leadership, humanity and wisdom will be greatly missed. “
Patricia Bosworth, best known for writing acclaimed biographies of Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando and other stars, died of coronavirus headaches in New York on April 2.
Although Bosworth had some early film credits, starring Broadway and in the 1959 film “A Nun’s Story” with Audrey Hepburn, she discovered a lasting good fortune in journalism and as a biographer of complex but high-level personalities. he has been a collaborator since the 1980s, announced his death and published a moving trio of his life on his website.
Anick Jesdanun, an Associated Press reporter who called himself “Nick,” died of coronavirus on April 2 at age 51.
Jesdanun, an assistant technical editor of AP who had been writing for news signing for two decades. An adventurous and willing runner, Jesdanun has participated in marathons around the world.
His cousin said Jesdanun “always helped his running mates if they were in trouble” and “helped the young AP writers tirelessly in their works. “
Lysa Dawn Robinson, a percussionist from Philadelphia, died of coronavirus headaches on April 2, 55.
Nicknamed “Lady Rhythm,” Robinson toured with Pink and played drums for soul singer Billy Paul for more than a decade.
“He enjoyed the way she played for him,” Paul’s widow Blanche Williams said. “They were tailor-made for others. “
Robinson’s father, guitarist of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and his own musical ability gave the impression from the beginning, according to his sister, dr. Pamela Chambers.
“When I was a kid, she started hitting things,” Chambers said. “And she mentored some of The Greatest in Philadelphia and began traveling internationally. “
Robinson played until a major stroke in 2012 left her paralyzed on the left side, working hard to become independent again.
“She was very determined to live life in the most productive way possible,” said a long-time friend, singer Shirley Lites. “He never gave up. “
Chambers said Robinson was his “little diamond” and that they were both “as close as the sister would be. “
“We were Michele, Lysa and Pam,” Chambers said, adding to her older sister, “Three musketeers are forming. “
Dr. Jack Zoller, an obstetrician and gynecologist from New Orleans, died of COVID-19 on April 2 at age 91.
During her long career, Zoller has given birth to more than 3,000 babies. Her son Gary said she had “countless memories” that her father would wake up at night to give birth.
Zoller has left an effect on her patients and others. “If I could count the number of other people at Jack Zoller’s fan club, it would take a while,” Gary said. “It was natural, not critical and gave this to everyone as a gift. “
A long-time resident of New Orleans, Zoller graduated from Tulane Medical School and LSU, married Linda Malkin and together raised four children before she died of cancer in 1994.
At his home in Telluride, Colorado, Zoller enjoyed fishing and volunteered at the Telluride Film Festival.
He spent his final years at Lambeth House Retirement Community in New Orleans. Last month, the facility was at the center of the city’s deadliest coronavirus group.
“He’s the Prince of Lambeth House,” Gary said. “If you knew him, you enjoyed him.
David Driskell, an artist and specialist in African-American art, died on April 1 at the age of 88 from coronavirus-like headaches.
Awarded by President Bill Clinton of the National Medal of Humanities in 2000, Driskell lobbied for black art to be American art. Clinton called him a “dream keeper today. “
As an artist, Driskell is known for his 1956 painting, “Here’s Your Son,” which depicts the Virgin Mary surrounding Emmett Till’s crucified and mutilated body with her arms. The University of Maryland named its David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora in his honor in 2001.
Mohammed Jafor died of coronavirus on 1 April at the age of 56.
Jafor arrived from Bangladesh in New York in 1991 to live his family’s life.
He took a homework assignment at McDonald’s, then as a restaurant delivery man and drove a yellow cab. Jafor also helped fellow Bangladeshi immigrants get up after arriving in the United States, inviting citizens of the city where he grew up to stay with him while traveling. according to one of his sons, his three children died of cancer.
Thanks to his hard work, his two sons have become the first in the family circle to move to college. The eldest, Mahbub Robin, graduated from City College. The youngest, Mahtab Shihab, is now at Harvard.
“This is the immigrant’s dream come true, ” said Mahtab. “He’s very proud. “
Leilani Jordan, a Maryland grocery painter who sought to keep running even though her frontline paintings put her at high risk, died of coronavirus on April 1.
Jordan’s mother, Zenobia Shepherd, said her daughter, who has cerebral palsy, painted for six years at Giant Food in Largo, Maryland, as a component of the store’s disability program, and that she “loved her little job. “When the dangers of coronavirus have become clear, said Shepherd Jordan, adamant about going to paint and proceeding to help, especially since others did not appear.
Jordan’s stepfather, Charles, told CNN that he learned of a farewell message Jordan recorded on his phone before his death. In the post, he said Jordan addressed them, as well as his sisters, friends and service dog, Angel.
“She said, “See you soon on the side, ” said Charles.
Ellis Marsalis Jr. , a jazz pianist, instructor, and patriarch of an extended New Orleans musical family that includes the famous sons Wynton and Branford, died of coronavirus pneumonia, one of his sons said on April 1, 85.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced the musician’s death in a grim press release Wednesday night. Major Marsalis had continued to perform in New Orleans until December.
“Ellis Marsal is a legend. It’s the prototype of what we mean when we communicate about New Orleans jazz,” Cantrell said in his statement. and astonishment that showed the world. “
Jesús Roman Meléndez, a cook at one of New York’s most famous restaurants, died of COVID-19 headaches on April 1.
For 20 years, Meléndez worked at Nougatine, under the direction of prominent chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
“It was a component of the glue that kept everything and everyone together,” Vongerichten said. “We have lost a user and the most productive breakfast cook in the world. “
Melendez, who came to New York from his hometown of Mexico City in 1994, “was the most productive dad,” said his daughter Yustin. “He came home tired of painting, but he spent time with us no matter what. “
In the kitchen, I knew how to feed other young cooks.
“He taught many of us not only to cook, but also to laugh at it,” Chef Mark Lapico said. “He had a love for music, a willing brain and a presence that only wisdom and delight can be offered by a man. “
Aviation engineer Richard Passman, whose ultra-secret paintings helped replace the Cold War course, died of coronavirus headaches on April 1 in Silver Spring, Maryland. He’s 94 years old.
A military education pilot in World War II, Passman would be aerodynamic leader of the Bell X-1A, the first aircraft to break the sound wall in 1947. He also worked on the Bell X-2, the first to succeed in Mach-3.
Passman then worked at GE Re-Entry Systems, where he developed the first spy satellite, which flew a hundred missions. He was also the pioneer of ICBM warhead technology.
After several high-level posts in the government and army, he helped overha overha overha over the International Space Station in the past 1980s, and then the station was effectively assembled into orbit.
He and his wife, Minna Passman, had seasonal tickets to the Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, which remained even later in Maryland.
Passman’s son, Bill, remembered his father as “a Renaissance man” and “just a great guy. “
“I played the piano. He made bread. He painted a little,” Bill Passman said. “I was interested in what others had to say, you know, what they were doing. And he laughed. “
In a career spanning 8 decades, jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, who died of coronavirus on April 1 at age 94, directed for presidents and performed with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and Michael Feinstein.
He had learned banjo and guitar at an early age, and was already hiking at the age of 17. He was a longtime member of the band with Skitch Henderson and played for several years on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson”. He also recorded with his son, singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli.
In a 2019 interview with Jazz Times, Pizzarelli talked about the seven-string Gretsch guitar adaptation after a musical hero, George Van Eps, proved it to him. The next day, he went into Manny’s space near Times Squares with friends, and they all bought seven-string Gretsches. Was it difficult to transfer from a six-string?” It’s much easier,” Pizzarelli said, “because on all six strings, you’re running out of notes. You don’t have a D-bémol. Je may never touch ‘Lush Life’ until you have a seven-string. “
“Jazz guitar wouldn’t be what it is without Bucky Pizzarelli,” jazz guitarist Frank Vignola told The Associated Press.
In 1992, “Sunday Morning” visited Bucky and his son, John:
Detective Marylou Armer, a 20-year veteran of the Santa Rosa Police Department in California, died On March 31, COVID-19. She’s 43.
“He was an example to other detectives on how to bring up investigations and, in the end, be a user and show empathy and professionalism,” said Detective Stephen Bussell, who had long been friends with Armer and worked with her on domestic violence cases. sexual assault unit.
A solemn procession of 250 police and public protection cars escorted Armer’s body to the cemetery on April 3.
His sister, Mari Lau, described Armer as a “very worried person. “
“My sister was known for her air of mystery and ability to show compassion,” Lau said. “I’m going to miss hugging her. “
Dr. Frank Gabrin, an emergency physician at East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey, died in her husband’s arms on March 31. The double cancer survivor developed symptoms of coronavirus on March 24 before succumbing to his condition. She was 60 años. se complaining about anything, she was just looking for paintings and helping other people,” her husband Arnold Vargas told NJ. com. Many other people now share Gabrin’s most recent message on social media. “Not those tools, other people, the toughest drugs we have to use in this pandemic!”, Gabrin wrote, sharing the symbol of a cloud of words that included positive words such as “tolerance,” empathy,” “goodwill,” “human dignity,” “and “heart openness. “
Star Wars actor and dialect coach Andrew Jack died in the UK on 31 March from the coronavirus.
For several years in the 1970s, Jack worked as an airline administrator, exposing him not only to countless accents, dialects and cultural differences around the world, but also to the importance of reassuring others. a dialect coach in a variety of films, and added “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Chaplin,” “Mansfield Park,” “Troy,” “Eastern Promises,” “Sherlock Holmes” (for which he also provided Moriarty’s voice), “Robin Hood,” the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and several of Marvel’s “Avengers” films.
Jack also worked on camera, appearing as resistance character Caluan Ematt in two “Star Wars” films: “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi”. His last assignment “The Batman,” with Robert Pattinson.
While in an intensive care unit in a hospital near London, Jack’s wife, dialect coach Gabrielle Rogers, quarantined in Australia and, unfortunately, may not be with him. After his death, Rogers tweeted, “We lost a man today. Andrew Jack was diagnosed with coronavirus two days ago. He had no pain and escaped in peace knowing that his circle of relatives all “with” him. “
The star of “Lord of the Rings,” Elijah Wood, tweeted about the “heartbreaking news” and described Jack as “a captivating human type and being. “
Ben Luderer, a special education instructor and baseball coach in New Jersey, died on March 30 after fighting coronavirus.
Luderer, a catcher on his school’s best baseball team, went to Marist College on a baseball scholarship and there he met his wife, Brandy, who is also a special education teacher.
Known for his silly sense of humor, Luderer “just opened up” to the kids, his former teammate Dan Zlotnick said. “His kindness and smile shone when he was with the children. “
Another former teammate, Eric Helmrich, praised Luderer for his paintings as a teacher.
“Being a special education instructor requires a special person. Be to continue and be a coach. It’s a lot to be so selfless and give yourself to as many people as possible,” he said.
When Luderer had symptoms of coronavirus in March, his wife took him to the hospital for treatment, sent home and seemed to be getting better, but then it got worse.
Madhvi Aya, who worked on the front of the coronavirus pandemic at a Brooklyn hospital, died of COVID-19 headaches on March 29. He’s 61 years old.
Aya was born in India, where she worked as a doctor before moving to the United States in 1994 to hire her husband, Raj, and raise her daughter Minnoli.
“It was nothing yet his hugs, that his voice could not make me feel better. Everything in it made me feel and that I was at home,” she told Reuters Minnoli, a student. freshman year.
Aya, a tireless health care worker, worked 12 hours a shift at Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn. Robert Chin, an emergency leader in Woodhull, said Aya was a “reputable member” of his team and “missed a lot. “
She was also a faithful mother, according to Minnoli, who said they sat down and talked every night about how things were going, even until 2 a. m. , two hours before Aya had to be at work.
“It didn’t deserve to happen like it did,” he said, “and I feel so lost without her. “
Alan Merrill, who co-wrote the song “I Love Rock and Roll”, which has become a hallmark of fellow rocker Joan Jett, died on March 29 in New York from coronavirus headaches, her 69-year-old daughter said.
“They gave me 2 minutes to say goodbye before I was rushed. It seemed nonviolent and when he left, there was still a ray of hope that he would not appear on the right side of the CNN/Fox news screen. “, wrote his daughter Laura Merrill on Facebook. ” I walked 50 blocks from home with hope in my heart. The city I knew was empty. I felt like I was the only user here and maybe in many tactics it was. As I walked through the doors of my apartment, I earn the news that he was gone.
Bassey Offiong died of coronavirus on March 29 at the age of 25.
The chemical engineer died weeks before graduating from the University of Western Michigan and dreamed of launching a line of biological makeup.
His friend, Marshall Killgore, said Offiong was a “mentor of faith” and a “gentle giant. “She said Offiong had been active in several campus communities, adding equipment for black men and “men opposed to domestic violence and rape and other bureaucracy of violence opposed to women. “
“In his eyes, he is the quintessence of what Array is a successful, hard-working and motivated young black man,” Killgore said. “It hurt me to hear the news of a ray of hope and joy for our network to leave so early. “
Matthew, Offiong’s friend, said, “Whether it was a word of encouragement or advice, he was there. “
His sister, Asari Offiong, told the Detroit News that his brother had no known physical disorder and that he had told him that he had been denied a COVID-19 three times before being hospitalized and put on a fan.
Nick Caravassi, a former coast guard and uncle of a CBS employee, died of coronavirus headaches on March 28.
A New Jersey resident who had just moved to Texas, Caravassi in his new residential state 10 days before being sent to the emergency room with symptoms of COVID-19, he and his wife, who were also hospitalized for a coronavirus but survived, had settled down. be close to his son and his fiancée.
Caravassi was born in Brooklyn, New York, and met the love of his life, Carol, shortly after finishing high school in Kearny, New Jersey.
“He asked her out again and again, she never took it, ” said her son David. “I had a date with whom I had never appeared in array . . . so he called Nick and said, ‘You know what, opportune time, you’ We’ve had another chance, come and get me. ‘”
Soon after, they were married.
Caravassi, who served in the Coast Guard according to his obituary, worked in the graphic industry for 25 years. At the age of 50, he trained as a bartender and David said the race had taken him to “wedding venues, college fraternities and women’s sorority. “parties. “
“Only the highest sociable and sociable of followers, ” he said. “If my parents had an explanation of why to bring together an organization of people, they would.
David said his father was a “big” Eagles fan, and had said he wanted to see the band play live before he died. Caravassi fulfilled his wish: he went to the Eagles concert in Houston with his family, just a few weeks before succumbing to coronavirus.
April Dunn, president of the Louisiana Developmental Disabilities Council, died of COVID-19 headaches on March 28.
Dunn was the driving force of louisiana State Law No. 833, an invoice that aims to provide choice tactics for graduate academics with disabilities after he was denied a degree. His mother, Joanette Dunn, said he would be renamed “April Dunn Bill” in his honor.
Born with fetal alcoholism syndrome and cerebral palsy, Dunn followed five months through her coaching mother.
“I didn’t need her disability to restrict her because she had in mind that she could do whatever it took,” Dunn said. “She’s not afraid to speak for herself or others. This is how it has become so well known, that it would pass to any representative without hesitation. “
Throughout his career, Dunn has worked with Gov. John Bel Edwards to pass legislative adjustments to the disabled community. He also spent time traveling the state to raise awareness in the community.
Joanette described how her daughter would go to the grocery stores and contact the manager if there was no bank for the elderly and disabled, and would come back to see if she could help them get one.
“More and more grocery stores are leaving banks in Baton Rouge because of April,” he said.
Governor Bel Edwards issued a message after Dunn’s death, saying he was “proud” to have her on his team and that he “lit up everyone’s day with a smile. “
William Helmreich, professor of sociology at City College and the Graduate Center at New York City University, died of coronavirus on March 28 at age 74. He has written on the streets of New York through his own experience: walking to the fullest each and every one. street, just about 125,000 blocks, from the best known to the remote maximum, from the richest to the most troubled. He listened to the stories of the locals and discovered an exclusive gotham story. For 4 years, during the 4 seasons and in all kinds of weather conditions, he traveled 6,048 miles, dressed in nine pairs of shoes.
The concept for Helmreich’s 2013 e-book “The New York Nobody Knows” (one of nearly 20 he wrote) came here from a game he had played as a child, in which he and his father jumped into the subway near his apartment in Manhattan. and drove it to the end of the line, then through the city from there.
“If I can say one thing about this city that sums it up, it is that it is the largest open-air museum in the world,” he told Sunday Morning in 2016.
Freda Ocran, a former leading nurse and nursing instructor at Jacobi Medical Center in New York, died of coronavirus on March 28 at the age of 50.
As the coronavirus spread, Ocran posted a photo of herself on Facebook with the words: “I can’t stay home. . . I’m a fitness worker. ” Four days later, he entered the hospital.
Her husband for 30 years, Joseph, said they had come in combination with the United States from Ghana. She worked while he graduated as a nurse. Then he helped her move from school to nurse. “She’s everything to me,” she said, “my wife, my friend, my counselor. “
“My mom was a wonderful person,” said Kwame, the eldest of her three children. “He has certainly given himself to the church, to his paintings and to his children. Whatever you say about a saint, you can say about Mom.
Araceli Buendia Ilagan, a nurse in Miami’s extensive care unit who, on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic, died On March 27 from the disease, reports CBS Miami.
Buendia Ilagan had worked at Jackson Memorial Hospital for nearly 33 years, the hospital said.
In a tribute posted on Facebook, his brother Roy Buendia wrote: “My expensive sister, we thank you for your determination in your profession. We’re very, very proud of you. You’re a true “hero” in this fight opposed to Covid. -19 “.
Josh Wallwork, a beloved costume designer for exhibitions such as “Madam Secretary” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” died on March 26 of COVID-19 headaches.
“With a broken heart, we are,” Mariska Hargitay, star of “Law and Order: SVU,” wrote on Twitter. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without a smile on his face. “
Wallwork was also a photographer and had a secondary activity in making Renaissance dresses with the 3 sewing machines he had in his apartment, enjoyed the Renaissance fairs and made his own dress for a Christmas party that he organized with his partner, Abdul Qadir.
Chef Floyd Cardoz, who competed in “Top Chef,” won the Top Chef Masters and operated successful restaurants in India and New York, died on March 25 of coronavirus headaches, his company said in a statement.
Cardoz was a committed advocate of sustainability in the food industry. He said at a 2017 appearance on CBS This Morning that he planned to become a doctor before his love of food took him to Switzerland and New York.
The prominent Indo-American chef lamented the culinary community of the world. Former Top Chef Masters contestant Suvir Saran tweeted that Cardoz was a “great chef” and a “weird human. “
Freddy Rodriguez, Sr. , a well-known saxophonist from the Denver jazz scene, died on March 25 of coVID-19 headaches. He’s 89.
Rodriguez a regular at clubs like El Chapultepec, where he played for 40 years and played until last month.
His son Freddy, Jr. , who was one of his bandmates, said his father had underlying fitness issues, but that never stopped him from doing what he loved.
“He had kidney problems and a pacemaker,” Freddy, Jr. said, “He’s been in poor health in recent years. He was such a tough, sexist, music-loving guy that we didn’t even realize how bad he was in health. “. “
Freddy, Jr. , said his father was “a wonderful man, full of power and enjoying life. “
Influential Cameroon-born musician Manu Dibango died on March 24 at the age of 86 from coronavirus. Dibango was highlighted by “Soul Makossa,” released in 1972, which some have described as the first disco album. His music fused African rhythms with jazz. soul, funk, rumba, disco and hip hop, and internationalized African music, while inspiring many other top artists in a career that spanned more than six decades.
Dibango, whose nickname was “Pappy Groove”, was the most productive known as saxophonist, also playing piano and vibraphone. He has recorded more than 40 albums, recorded and toured with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Sinead O’Connor. and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
In pronouncing Dibango’s death, composer and music maker Quincy Jones tweeted: “His contributions to music as we know it are unprecedented, and it breaks me the center to hear about this massive loss. Alma Makossa my brother! Thank you for your music and your light. “
Kyra Johnson, a beloved mother and grandmother, died march 24 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after batting coronavirus.
Johnson, who has been on dialysis for several years, worked at Burger King and took a moment on a part-time assignment at a catering company for his grandchildren.
“He would do it for his grandchildren. His grandchildren were his heart,” said his brother, Arshield Johnson.
Kyra, who did not drink, was “the soul of the party,” according to her family. He died a month after having a party for his 52nd birthday.
Arshield, her sister, enjoyed driving her Toyota Corolla, which she inherited from her mother.
“She spent every penny on that vehicle. He asked me to order all portions of Amazon,” he said.
Kyra’s daughter, Kyraeil Johnson, said they either spoke every morning, but that she could not say goodbye to her mother in her final days.
“She alone. There’s no one with her. He left too early,” Kyraeil said.
Detroit police captain Jonathan Parnell died of coronavirus on March 24. I was 50 years old. The 31-year-old branch veteran worked for the team of assassins. “He went through this task and enjoyed every minute,” he said. your friend Lieutenant Mark Young.
The captain had three children. When two of them, Jonathan Jr. and Jeremy, graduated from Michigan State, Parnell returned to school himself to earn his bachelor’s degree, graduating summa Cum Laude.
“He led us, and then we drove him,” said Jonathan Jr. , who is also a police officer at Wayne State University. This made his father proud. The police task “meant it all” to Parnell, his son said.
Marlowe Stoudamire, a Detroit business representative who defended the young black professionals he called his “young lions,” died of coronavirus on March 24 at the age of 43.
Stoudamire “was the kind of person who can see you before he saw you,” his friend Eric S said. Thomas.
He is also “a Detroit animator,” said Orlando Bailey, who called Stoudamire a friend and mentor.
Stoudamire founded Roster Detroit, “a platform to magnify black skill in Detroit, to avoid the narrative that there are no black skills in Detroit,” Bailey said. “It is his ode to the resistance of the city, but also to the black professional who felt invisible. “
Laneeka Barksdale, a ballroom dancer in Detroit, died of COVID-19 at the age of March 23.
Nikki, as she knew her, worked as a waitress, drove for Lyft and cared for her four children. But “the ballroom is his life,” his brother, Omari, said. “When she was on the dance floor, she just floated. “
Some even she’s the “queen of the ballroom,” she said.
Barksdale’s cousin, Mo Minard, said everyone enjoyed it. “I know for sure that paradise won an angel because she is an angel here on Earth,” Minard said. “I know she’s dancing up there. “
Carole Brookins, former executive director of the World Bank, died of coronavirus headaches on March 23 at age 76.
Brookins, a rarity in the men-dominated financial sector of the 1970s. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, Brookins worked in the bond market in Chicago and became vice president of E. F. Hutton in New York.
She then moved on to her own consulting firm, World Perspectives, before being appointed a member of the World Bank through President George W. Bush in 2001.
Although just over a metre and a half tall, his friend Lawrence Goodman said Brookins could fill a room with his intellect and.
Kimberly Reed, director of the U. S. Export and Import Bank, considers Brookins a mentor and a substitute.
“I’m going to miss it Array . . . listen to that voice, help me, consult me,” Reed said. “She would protect what was right. “
The Rev. Richard “Dick” Ottaway, a retired episcopal minister, died on March 23, COVID-19 at the age of 88.
Ottaway has been described as a Renaissance man, devoted to reading his newspapers every morning and feeding the wild birds he liked to practice at his Home in Massachusetts.
“He is an intellectual,” said his stepson J. T. Rogers, “erudite, knew food, wine, and the Bible. “
Ottaway grew up in rural North Carolina and was the first in his circle of relatives to move to college.
He became chaplain at Wake Forest University and professor of business ethics in England, where he met his wife, Elaine.
His home on Cape Cod is a gathering place, open to all, said Ottaway’s daughter-in-law, Rebecca Ashley.
The family circle may simply not say goodbye to Ottoway at the hospital. “For a minister, who has exercised his ministry with so many others in his final hours, not being with him (was) difficult,” Ashley said.
Jazmond Dixon, known for her huge smile, died of coronavirus at the age of 31 on March 22.
Dixon worked at the American Red Cross in St. Louis and completed his master’s degree in business administration at Lindenwood University last year. He dreamed of having his own pastry business, said his cousin, Belafae Johnson Jr. .
“Jazmond smart, hardworking, dedicated, ” said Johnson. ” He worked a full-time task and finished his studies. “
Dixon also enjoyed making a candy cake for his circle of relatives, Johnson said. In February, when some members of her circle of relatives simply didn’t have a birthday party, she moved in to deliver cake.
Michael Ganci, husband, father and grandfather, died of COVID-19 headaches in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 21 at age 74.
Ganci had been an instructor for more than 20 years, had a fourth-grade black belt in karate and enjoyed playing with his 1928 Model-A truck. He was proud of his Sicilian roots and enjoyed the circle of relatives of the culture being in combination by Sunday. Dinner.
“He sought everything he sought in a husband and a father, ” said his wife, Marianna Ganci. The two had married when they were just over 20 years old, less than a year after they met, and had been together for nearly 48 years before Ganci died in March.
Ganci, who is already a survivor, has battered a neuromuscular disease called myasthenia gravis such as bladder cancer.
“I had a way of making you settle for Array. . . that a lot of the struggles we have are because we have to keep things they can’t take,” her daughter Laura said.
Judy Wilson-Griffin, a nurse in St. Louis, died of coronavirus headaches on March 20 at age 63.
Wilson-Griffin knew she wanted to be a nurse. ” When I was a kid, I sell my Barbie dolls and all my friends’ dolls and one day I knew I’d come to help people,” she said at a leadership convention in 2014. .
She was a nurse in the Navy during the Gulf War and at St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis. Louis, was concerned about high-risk pregnancies and won the March of Ten Pennies Nurse of the Year award.
“Judy, the user we were looking for now,” said Pam Lesser, her manager and friend, “a very generous, kind and worried soul. “
Oliver Stokes, Jr. , better known in New Orleans as GO DJ Black n Mild, died of coronavirus on March 19 at age 44.
Stokes has been a DJ for more than 20 years, his wife, Cassandra, and also a radio personality who brought New Orleans music to his radio shows.
Stokes, a father of four, was also a coach at a charter school.
“I’d literally give you the last thing out of his pocket,” Cassandra said. She died four days before her wedding anniversary.
New York Fire Chief John Knox died of COVID-19 in March at the age of 84.
Knox, who founded the Benevolent Association of Fire Chiefs, investigated many fires in the 1970s and 1980s with the FDNY. After 9/11, he left his retirement to dig the debris at Ground Zero, a task that would damage his lungs.
Knox is also a Marine combat engineer in Korea and spent a brief period in the New York Police Department before joining the chimney branch in 1960.
He “100% integrity,” said Zach Knox, the third of his father’s four children. “He would do nothing for his own career in the face of the threat of his men. “
Knox was still wearing a gold-relief chimney marshal ring that had been given to him after 30 years of service, and even in the hospital he didn’t need to take it off.
Sundee Rutter, a mother of six and a survivor of breast cancer, died of coronavirus headaches on March 16 at age 42.
Rutter, from Everett, Washington, “went further” for his sons, said his eldest daughter Alexis. After his father’s death in 2012, Rutter went to school while working and transporting his children to sporting events and took them on special trips.
Diagnosed with breast cancer last year, Rutter struggled with chemotherapy, underwent a double mastectomy and is about to undergo reconstructive surgery this summer.
“She never let things stop her, ” said Alexis. “Even though he had been through crazy things, he also showed us how to be positive. “
Alexis called her mom “a light” and said she was “someone we don’t have much contact with. A super empathetic and exclusive person. “