Most who knew him say he was an angel.
Angel Cruz, 42, of Bradenton, owned Cruz Landscape. He was hospitalized Aug. 8 and died Aug. 23 from complications associated with COVID-19.
He is one of 254 people in Manatee County to die from COVID-19 as of Aug. 28.
“Angel Cruz was one of the finest men I’ve known,” Ann Grit, Holmes Beach resident and Cruz client, told The Islander Aug. 27.
“He was honest, hard-working, dependable, humble and kind, and I will miss him dearly. My heart goes out to his family and anyone else who had the pleasure of knowing him.”
Jim Eatrides of Sarasota knew Cruz when Eatrides lived on Longboat Key and Cruz worked for another company. Eatrides encouraged Cruz to start his own business nearly 15 years ago.
“He was one of the most diligent, honest and thoughtful people I have ever met,” Eatrides said Aug. 27. “The more I saw him and got to know him, the more I saw that potential. He was the American Dream.”
Cynthia Lacy, a Holmes Beach resident and Cruz client, shared a post to social media when she learned the landscaper died. The response was overwhelming — more than 600 people liked the post and many shared comments on how Cruz affected their lives.
“He was able to do anything we needed, and did it with a smile on his face,” Lacy said. “He was just a wonderful person, loaded with integrity. And so strong and healthy, which is part of the shock.”
According to Cruz’s wife Maria, he had no known health issues prior to contracting the virus, but heart problems arose with the virus and claimed his life.
She said her husband’s employees were tested and none were positive, but he returned home from work one day and complained of a headache and fever.
She told him to rest and, when his symptoms worsened, encouraged him to get tested for the virus.
Angel Cruz tested positive at the state-run testing site at University Town Center in Sarasota.
He isolated, seeking to prevent the spread of the virus to his wife and their children, Angel Jr., 17, and Diana, 12. But eventually Maria and Angel Jr. contracted the virus.
During his illness, Angel Cruz reached a point where it was difficult to breathe, so his wife called 911 and he was taken to the hospital.
She said her husband could barely stand.
“I feel like he didn’t want me to worry, he didn’t want me to be scared,” Maria said. “I thought he would go to the hospital, they would give him oxygen and we would pick him up in the morning.”
Maria said her final communication from her husband was a text that he was about to be placed in a medically induced coma.
She was hospitalized shortly thereafter, as was their son, Angel Jr.
When it appeared Angel Cruz was getting worse and he was not baptized, his family requested the rite. Maria was admitted to his room, in full personal protective equipment and the ceremony was conducted over the phone with a priest.
“They said I could be in the room with him, since he was dying and I was positive,” she said. “They made me wear gloves, but I took them off, so I could feel him one last time.”
He died within hours of the baptism and Maria was released from the hospital several days later.
On Aug. 27, she was isolating and had not seen her daughter — who remained negative for the virus.
Maria said the encouragement and support from friends, family and customers has been overwhelming.
“I cannot say how much I appreciate peoples’ kind words,” she said. “I wish I could tell everyone ‘thank you, he loved you all so much.’”
Eatrides said he is in shock over the loss of his friend.
“He was a very healthy, active man,” Eatrides said. “What’s difficult about this disease is it hits people in different ways. It is indiscriminate.”