Obituaries: Those who have died from coronavirus

The first known deaths from COVID-19 occurred in mid March in Broward and Palm Beach counties. As the number continues to rise, we remember some of those who have passed.

Earl Bailey was a nurse who worked for a staffing company and was assigned to multiple hospitals, mostly Florida Medical Center in Lauderdale Lakes. He was born in Jamaica, and moved to South Florida about 2002 from Canada, said his daughter Sashia Bailey of Pompano Beach. He had five children and five grandchildren.

“My father was very strong and felt he could beat it,” Sashia Bailey said. “He was very healthy, he worked out every day, even at Florida Medical Center, he would round up the nurses and go exercise.”

According to Broward’s Medical Examiner’s Office, Bailey went into cardiac arrest at home after being quarantined over testing positive for the virus. He died April 5.

— Lisa Huriash

The Bakers had been married more than 51 years when they died six minutes apart at Bethesda Hospital East in Boynton Beach. Their deaths on March 29 were among the first in Florida to be highly publicized, due to a widely shared Twitter video posted by their son, sports agent Andrew “Buddy” Baker. According to Baker, prior to contracting the disease, his parents were in “perfect health.”

“Practice social distancing, wash your hands as regularly as you can, and most importantly, stay at home,” Baker pleaded in the video. “It’s going to take all of us standing together and deciding that we’re going to stop the spread of this virus.”

— Dan Sweeney

The retired pharmacist was born in Brooklyn and was the father of four children, grandfather of seven and great-grandfather of two. He owned two drugstores in Manhattan and was “the most loving, kind, sweet man,” said his wife, Gail.

She said he had been weakened by several other illnesses, including prostate surgery in early March. He had started feeling better after the surgery but developed dizziness and shortness of breath shortly after. “We don’t know how he contracted“ COVID-19, she said. He died April 2.

— Lois Solomon

The school’s principal, Andrew Gerlach, described the deputy as “a caring and loving school resource officer who was always willing to go above and beyond to support our students and community.”

Bennett’s friend Tim Martin characterized him as a loyal friend and a strong player in the South Florida Amateur Athletic Association, which runs a gay softball league.

Boffice had been hospitalized for 10 days and received a plasma infusion Monday, but it was “just too late,” said Marie Turchiaro, executive director at the school. “His heart just gave out. It just overwhelmed him.”

— Brooke Baitinger

Marie Bonanzinga was the quintessential New York Italian mother whose Long Island home was filled with the aroma of time-honored family meals and New York Yankees games. She died on March 22 at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale during one of her regular visits to see her son, Tony Bonanzinga, of Davie. She was 85.

Mrs. Bonanzinga left her son with a wealth of recipes and an indelible memory of a day out at the ballpark watching her beloved Yanks play the Marlins in Jupiter on March 11. Two days later Major League Baseball suspended play.

“This is a woman who was on Joe DiMaggio’s radio show. She has pictures of herself with Joe DiMaggio. When she was three rows behind the dugout at Roger Dean Stadium, she turned to me and said, ‘I want to sleep here tonight,’ ” Tony says, laughing.

A few days later, Mrs. Bonanzinga slipped off a chair in the kitchen and broke her hip. Tony saw her just after the surgery, but the hospital was locked down the next day. She had gone in with a history of respiratory issues and died days later.

“She was just full of life. They say most people when they break their hip, the next stop is heaven. But I really thought she was going to be OK,” Tony says. “I think if this friggin’ virus wasn’t around, she’d be in the kitchen right now.”

After experiencing his own flu-like symptoms, Tony did not feel comfortable flying to Long Island to join his two sisters at their mother’s funeral. But the funeral home set up a webcam and a buddy took video — Tony saw what he needed to see.

“We actually got the casket in New York Yankee blue, and we had a Yankee blanket draped over the casket and a Yankee hat in the casket,” he says. “I mean, she was a Yankee.”

— Ben Crandell

Jose Diaz Ayala had worked as a corrections deputy in Palm Beach County until being promoted in January 2016 to sergeant with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Grisel Pineda, Diaz Ayala’s ex-wife, said he was a devoted father to their three children, Laylanny, Gianna and Bianca. His survivors also include two sister and his parents, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The girls “were everything to him and he is their hero,” Pineda said. “He was a great guy and had a big heart.”

She said Diaz Ayala had asthma. Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera also said he had underlying heart conditions. He died April 4.

Downes worked was a customer service representative for AmericanAirlines for 22 years after immigrating to the United States in 1998.

His father, Timothy, described him as the kind of person who always looked out for others and said he was known as the person to contact if your travels accidentally left you stuck in South Florida — especially if you were a fellow Barbadian.

“He was truly the person to go above and beyond as his duty as a Barbadian to assist people that come to Florida or wherever you might be,” he said. “It was an honor for me to be his dad.”

Barry Downes was a recipient of the St Peter: We Gatherin’ 2020 Pride of Barbados Award and received the honor from Prime Minister Mia Mottley for service to his community in February.

He went to Barbados to check on his aunt before coming back to Florida on March 22 for doctors’ appointments, after dealing with complications from diabetes and high blood pressure. Downes was admitted to Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines on March 30 and tested positive for COVID-19 March 31. He died April 5.

— Khobi Price

The president of the Miami Tri-County Senate bowling group, was “the nicest human being,” according to Johanna La Rosa, past president of the South Florida bowling group. “The never had a harsh word to say about anyone. He smiled all the time. If you asked him to do something, if it was in his means, he would do it.” According to the Broward County Medical Examiner, he had existing heart and lung conditions. He died March 31.

— Scott Travis

In the late ‘90s these two New York natives were introduced by a mutual friend after each lost a spouse to cancer. Glass was a stay-at-home mother and Sands had a long career as a car salesman. What started as a friendship blossomed into 20 years of love.

“They were each other’s companion,” said Lori Helitzer, Glass’ daughter.

Days after a poker game on March 12, they both began to feel ill and tested positive for the coronavirus. They were checked into Memorial Regional Hospital and eventually placed in the same room where they spent their final days together.

On March 27, Sands died as Glass watched from her bed. On March 31, Glass died, too.

– Andrew Boryga

The Broward doctor was in private practice until 2017 and had been associated with Northwest Medical Center in Margate. His death from COVID-19 was the region’s first for a medical provider. Roland More, a physician graduate, said on social media he did his clinical rotations under Hsu. “A humanitarian in the greatest measure possible passed away too soon,” More wrote. Hsu died March 24.

Azade Kilic was visiting her daughter, Deniz Kilic, in Delray Beach when she was hospitalized. Known as “Azzie,” she had come to the United States from Turkey when she was 19. She worked for Wolf & Sons Paint in New York and chose colors and wallpaper designs for clients.

She began to feel sick in her home in Queens, where her doctor said she had pneumonia and tested her for COVID-19. She went to Delray Beach to stay at her daughter’s, while Deniz Kilic stayed at her boyfriend’s home. After a few days at her daughter’s, she began to have trouble breathing, around the same time her positive test results from New York came back. She went by ambulance to Delray Medical Center, where she was placed on a ventilator. She died four days later.

“I didn’t want her to be alone in New York,” Deniz Kilic said. “But she died alone here. I never got to see her.” She died April 2.

— Lois Solomon

Ralph Monahan was a retired industrial arts teacher, spending 34 years with Buffalo Public Schools in New York. He was a Boy Scout leader for over 40 years. He and his wife, Robin, would split the year between Boynton Beach and Arcade, New York. Monahan was diabetic and “couldn’t fight it when he got it,” his widow said. Unable to find coronavirus testing when he became ill, Monahan posthumously tested positive for COVID-19.

“He was the kindest man I’ve ever met in my life,” Robin Monahan said. “He would do anything for anybody. His family was so important to him. He would drop anything for his grandkids if they needed it.” In addition to his wife, he’s survived by sons Eric and Mark. He died on March 26.

— Wells Dusenbury

After they retired, the Pollocks focused on traveling the world and devoting themselves to their church, St. John Missionary Baptist in Boynton Beach. But coronavirus cut their retirements short, both at age 68. Alice died on April 4, Robert on April 12.

Robert was a U.S. Army and Postal Service veteran, while Alice worked at the Palm Beach County School District and Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach, said their niece, Marion Pollock.

At St. John Missionary Baptist, Robert founded the church’s security ministry and Alice greeted congregants as they arrived each Sunday, said the Rev. Jovan Davis, the church’s pastor.

“They were married over 50 years,” Davis said. “They were a great model of what marriage should be.”

Davis said four church members have died of coronavirus. He said the church went to livestreamed services on March 22.

“It’s been very difficult, not being able to be there for your members,” he said. “The pain extends far beyond the immediate family.”

— Lois Solomon

Meryl Salkin, 84, Lantana. The New York native was “incredibly joyful, very social, smart and funny,” according to her son, Gary Deutsch of Philadelphia. She loved being around her children, grandchildren and dogs, he said. Salkin developed flu-like symptoms: a cough, fatigue, loss of appetite and a fever. Her boyfriend Kenneth Lassiter drove her to JFK Medical Center in Atlantis, but he wasn’t allowed to see her after that. She died March 31.

— Scott Travis

When both Schaeman and his wife, Roni, caught the virus and were admitted to Delray Medical Center, their family especially feared for Roni, 79, who had survived lung cancer and suffered from diabetes. Instead, she is now recovering at home, a widow.

The Schaemans had retired to the Valencia Palms 55-and-older community in Delray Beach seven years ago from New Jersey, though Frank Schaeman was born and raised in North Carolina. “He was the epitome of a Southern gentleman,” said daughter Sharon Dobel of Parkland. “He must have been the only one who said ‘y’all’ in New Jersey.”

One person had tested positive for COVID-19 in Valencia Palms before the Schaemans, but their family can’t be sure how Frank and Roni caught it. They had not traveled, and none of their friends were sick. Nevertheless, Roni began feeling unwell and was tested for COVID-19 at Cleveland Clinic.

“When I called my father to tell him she wasn’t coming home, I noticed his breathing was really altered,” Dobel said. “Until then, we didn’t even know he was sick.”

Frank and Roni went into the emergency room on March 28. Frank died April 1.

— Dan Sweeney

Longtime Fort Lauderdale resident Elfriede H. von Holtz was 96 when she died at Holy Cross Hospital on March 21. Von Holtz lived in the Melrose Park section of the city in a home on West Dayton Circle that she and her husband bought at Christmas of 1970, after they both retired from teaching jobs in Connecticut.

Von Holtz was a steadfast supporter of her neighborhood as its demographics changed. In 2002, Melrose Park residents seeking annexation by a neighboring city believed Plantation officials rejected the idea because the neighborhood was mostly black. The city of Fort Lauderdale eventually annexed Melrose Park.

“Plantation thinks it’s very grand,” von Holtz told a Sun Sentinel reporter at the time. “I’m very happy here. Any city should be glad to have us.”

— Ben Crandell

Hollywood native George “Dennard” Washington Jr., a senior state administrator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Florida, died March 25 at Westside Regional Hospital in Plantation.

Washington was a graduate of J.P. Taravella High School, with a degree in business administration from Lynn University in Boca Raton, and an usher at Bethasemane Missionary Baptist Church in Hollywood and Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miramar.

“Dennard was very passionate, kind-hearted and loved his work with MADD. He will be greatly missed!” said a testimonial on the MADD Facebook page.

Washington is survived by wife Canica Dillard Washington; parents George and Henrietta Washington, of Miramar; and six sisters, along with a large extended family.

— Ben Crandell

Wright worked for Morrison’s Cafeteria more than 20 years ago and lived with her husband of 43 years, Willie. She was born in Georgia and moved to Florida with her family as a kid.

Willie Wright said she went to the hospital for swelling in her hands two weeks before she died and went home, but was not tested for COVID-19 or hospitalized before she died.

“I don’t know what they did after she died,” he said. “But they didn’t test her before she died.”

Wright had diabetes and heart disease, according to the Broward County Medical Examiner, and died on April 4.

— Khobi Price