Profiles of a pandemic: Western New Yorkers lost to Covid-19
Western New York recently surpassed the grim milestone of 2,200 deaths due to Covid-19. Throughout the pandemic, The Buffalo News has profiled many of those who lost their lives to Covid-19, telling the painful human story of the virus. Those stories are collected here.
Please contact The News at citydesk@buffnews.com if you know of someone who died due to Covid-19 whose story we should tell.
Louvenia “Lou Lou” Henderson, a woman of faith and a proud single mother of three from the Town of Tonawanda, became the sixth person in Erie County to die from Covid-19.
Walter H. Monahan had served on a destroyer during the Vietnam War, and from then on, the Navy was in his blood. When his tours ended, he was asked where he would like to be stationed. The West Coast, he said. They put him in the Pentagon, in a large office of about 50 people working for the chief of naval operations.
Even when they attached her husband to a ventilator at Buffalo General Medical Center, Karen Catalano remained hopeful.
Rita Faber was in otherwise good health for a 90-year-old. But after falling in her apartment, she developed a fever at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo and was later diagnosed with Covid-19.
Raised during the Great Depression, Luigi D'Orazio learned how to do things for himself. He became so adept at plumbing, electrical work and carpentry that he built the home on Grand Island in which he raised his family.
John Pijanowski, with no way of being at his dad’s hospital bedside in Buffalo, learned by text in Arkansas of the death of his father from Covid-19.
Ronald Peoples never knew he had the Covid-19 virus. By the time his test results came back, the 86-year-old retired Buffalo Public Schools educator was hooked up to a ventilator.
Cyril J. Alessi was all things Buffalo. He grew up on the West Side, and when he worked at his father’s business, Tommy’s Tire Shop, on Niagara Street, he fixed truck tires that were sometimes taller than he was.
Robin Steck can't say enough about the doctors and nurses at Sisters of Charity Hospital, St. Joseph Campus, but her gratitude can't mask the ugly, unfair realities of her husband's death.
Catherine Phillips-Russ of Kenmore knew how to revive a weary spirit, according to her daughter, Elizabeth Curtis.
The story of Covid-19’s effects on Western New York has largely been one of mind-numbing data, provided day after day on a national, state, county and even municipal level.
Renee Williams led a simple life with her husband and three children, living in their ranch-style home in Clarence Center for more than 50 years.
During the week of March 16, Denise Grenier displayed the symptoms of a cold, but she was mostly lethargic. There was no fever or cough. By March 24 she was bed-ridden.
David Fregelette said his father was healthy and independent and only ended up in the rehabilitation unit at Father Baker Manor after breaking his hip in a fall on March 16.
Shirley Dell’Amico, who in mid-life earned college degrees and had a lengthy career as a counselor for marginalized people, died April 8 at Garden Gate Nursing Home in Cheektowaga.
Grace D'Angelo Tutton's relatives on April 8 gathered on the sidewalk garbed in masks, gloves and gowns. Staff wheeled her just outside, hooked up to oxygen and covered in blankets for warmth. They sang "Hey Good Lookin' " to her, a family tradition at birthdays.
Kenneth Whigham Sr. "was a huge Bills fan, and he also was a youth football coach for the Buffalo Vets for 10 years,” said his cousin, Vince Staples. “And then, after coaching, he became one of our administrators with the Buffalo Vets."
Mary Helen Sedita was a distant cousin to the branch of the family that gave Buffalo a mayor, Frank A. Sedita, and two judges, Frank A. Sedita III and the late Frank A. Sedita Jr.
The grieving family of 77-year-old Ellen E. Booker, who died of Covid-19 in a Cheektowaga nursing home, called on the state Health Department to publicly identify nursing homes where the virus has spread and disclose the number of cases at each facility.
Ronald Wagner came down with what he thought was a cold in March. But it was the novel coronavirus. He died around 5 a.m. on Easter Sunday.
Anthony Olivieri liked physical work almost as much as he liked people.
“John Pfahl could make even a heap of garbage look beautiful.” That’s how Buffalo News Art Critic Richard Huntington in 2000 summed up the humorous, inspired work of John Pfahl.
Thomas E. Cullen was an expert on rare manuscripts and books, especially incunabula, or pre-printing press books, and early hand water-colored illustrated books, and he even sold some of his books to the Library of Congress.
Edward C. “Ed” Ortiz – part of the original Slo-Pokes group that started the races in a Niagara County field in the 1950s that led to Ransomville Speedway – lost count of the number of victory laps he’d taken during his three decades of competition.
Charles “Big Wheelie” Vicario Jr. had rock ‘n’ roll in his soul. The leather-clad frontman became a fixture on local stages for nearly 50 years, leading his band “the Hubcaps” through oldies medleys that brought audiences to their feet.
Pamela McCrory was the kind of person who made everyone better just by knowing her. She had a strong work ethic, a giddy laugh and a generous and caring heart.
L. Carol Miceli turned her love of sewing into a business that helped pay the bills as she and her husband, a letter carrier, raised their three children in the Town of Tonawanda.
Dr. Burr began his 36-year career at Smallwood Drive Elementary School in 1958, when he was hired as a teacher, a position he held for one school year. The next year, at 27, he became assistant principal.
Joseph A. Palmeri was a high school science teacher who was fascinated by worlds far beyond our own.
Danielle N. Frank-Sasiadek had persevered for almost two decades with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary neuromuscular disorder that left her in constant pain.
Richard Charles Canazzi survived the Vietnam War and the exposure to Agent Orange that led to his Parkinson's disease. He survived a year of being shuttled around to different hospitals and rehab centers. But contracting Covid-19 proved too much for the former Erie County sheriff's deputy.
Mark Schroeder poured himself into his interests, from hockey and pop culture to work and most of all, his children.
Two weeks ago, Steve Robinson developed a cough. After he tested positive for Covid-19 and was discharged from Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Robinson, 62, died in his South Buffalo home on April 23.
At 63, John Poleon was beloved for his workplace selflessness, for the way he would always do a little extra to allow his co-workers to stretch out lunch or leave on time.
Joe Pitts started getting sick the first weekend in April. He was admitted to Buffalo General Medical Center a few days later and spent 17 days on a ventilator in intensive care as he battled Covid-19. The last call to his family came April 24. Nurses put the phone up to Joe's ear. Family members prayed.
Jose Rivera filled his life by helping people, as a medic in the U.S. Navy, as a volunteer building Habitat for Humanity homes and as a union safety officer at General Mills in Buffalo.
Patricia Rowe, mother of 12, grandmother of 38, great-grandmother of 36 and great-great-grandmother of two spent her life caring for her children. Guided by the values of faith, education and service, she was generous and loving, and for years she helped immigrants and refugees get on their feet.
The owner of three German Shepherd dogs over roughly 40 years, Caroline M. "Carol" Fields was affectionately called "the German Shepherd lady" by her Riverside neighbors.
The last time Cheryl Wind saw her grandmother, Arline Yaw, was on March 1. "She walked me to the door at the nursing home," Wind said. Her grandma was 99, but remarkably healthy and strong, and Wind couldn't have imagined as she left Father Baker Manor that she'd never see her again.
Mr. Mooney "loved to help people and make a difference in their lives," said his family. "Everything he involved himself in was better for his participation."
Rita Thurston was a constant presence at Kenmore United Methodist Church for decades, working with youth groups, supporting educational efforts in underserved communities and attending Sunday adult education class.
Edward Crogan wasn't the typical local lacrosse star of the 1950s and 1960s. Although he played on primarily Native American teams, Crogan and his brother Sam were Buffalo natives who were introduced to the game after their father married a Tuscarora Indian Reservation woman.
During almost 29 years as a federal probation officer, Joseph D. Parkinson developed an unusual relationship with some of Western New York’s notorious criminals.
Concetta Pierro loved to sit in the front row during Masses at St. Amelia Catholic Church, beaming with pride as her son – the Rev. Sebastian "Sibby" Pierro – delivered his sermons.
Lorena “Lori” McDonald, active as a costume designer, director and fundraiser in Buffalo theaters, died May 6 in Southbury, Conn., from complications of Covid-19 after a period of declining health. She was 75.
Joan Neudecker hated to get sick, her daughter said, largely because it kept her from the work she loved, caring for patients at the McAuley Residence in Kenmore.
Francis A. Kennedy’s habitual tinkering led to inventing a telephone caller ID device in the 1970s and a patented insulated concrete block that’s been used in more than 200 commercial buildings in the Northeast.
William J. Pujolas thought nothing of getting up at 5 a.m. to chauffeur his daughter and her friends to the local ice rink for figure skating practice.
After a career as an engineer, working in Buffalo on some of the biggest projects of the 20th century – including the Manhattan Project and the Apollo lunar module – William L. Burch lived since 2016 in the McAuley Residence, a nursing home hard hit by Covid-19.
When rioters threw rocks and police threw tear gas during the 1970 Allentown Art Festival, Dennis G. Golombek was there. When riots broke out at the University at Buffalo and Buffalo State College, he covered them for the Courier-Express.
In 2018, Giambra was described point-blank as Buffalo's most beloved citizen by longtime Buffalo News critic and columnist Jeff Simon, a point offered not only as accolade but as a reasoned observation, based on a passionate community response to his resume.
Before his health failed, Mr. Davis "was a tinkering person; he had to have something going on the workbench seven days a week," his wife said.
Doris M. Mathias was born on Buffalo’s East Side on March 17, 1918, when the Spanish Flu was beginning its deadly march to claiming 50 million lives worldwide. She survived that pandemic, but the 102-year-old woman is now among the lives lost to Covid-19.
Norma Jean Kennedy, 91, died first, on May 23. Her oldest daughter, Diane L. Kennedy, 71, of Salamanca, died May 29. Diane's sister, Cynthia J. Mohr, also of Salamanca, died at age 65 on Friday, June 12.
Maggy Woodward and Natalie Hanlon found their lives forever linked, first as roommates at a nursing home, and again when they contracted Covid-19.
Philip Beckman survived the Holocaust, forced at age 18 from the Krakow ghetto to the Nazi concentration camp featured in the movie "Schindler's List."
Mr. Keller's six books of poetry included a collaboration with artist Robert Freeland and “Evening Everything: The Collected Poems of Loren Keller,” in 2005. His poems appeared in The Buffalo News and he was featured frequently at local poetry readings.
According to his family, Mr. Symer rarely, if ever, spoke about his experiences during World War II. A notable exception was about his brief encounter with then-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt while on shore leave on the island of New Caledonia in 1943.
The lights at Klimek’s Tavern on Oliver Street in North Tonawanda aren’t burning as brightly, now that one of its best-loved patrons, William "Billy" Fanto, has been claimed by Covid-19.
The Rev. Barbara Jane Herling’s death brought a sad end to the life of a woman who raised five children and helped many people with meditation and spiritual healing.
"He was such a special person ... it's so sad that we have lost people like him to Covid-19," said Jennifer Barszcz, one of Edward L. Barszcz's three daughters.
Amid the surge of Covid-19, Sean Kirst remembers a favorite teacher, Mrs. Murray, and her son, Tom Murray, who died Dec. 1 of Covid-19.
At 5 feet, 2 inches, Blase J. LaDuca was larger than life, said his daughter Michelle Mathews.
Citing privacy laws, the Health Department refuses to shed any further light on those complaints other than to say they are pending and under review.
His children and grandchildren were pulling for Harold L. Meacham to mark his 100th birthday in a year and a half, but he didn't make it. His death notice in The Buffalo News said he was "defeated by Covid-19." It may have been the only thing that could have defeated him.
Joseph and Marie Thomas were just two among dozens of Covid-19 fatalities in Erie County in November as the second wave of the virus hit the region.
Michael J. Burns "approached every single day with a determination to fit as much as he could into whatever time God gave him," said his daughter, Caitlyn Grace Burns.
Mrs. Valenzuela retired from nursing in the 1990s to become more involved with her grandchildren, a maternal role she relished.
A Buffalo native, he was the youngest of two children of George Koegel and the former Genevieve Nowak. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in 1950. After high school, he worked at Siegfried Construction Co. until joining The News in 1951.
The last surviving original partner in the Buffalo firm of Hamilton, Houston and Lownie, now HHL Architects, Mr. Houston frequently was engaged in historic preservation efforts.
Dick Odien, a beloved Depew teacher, coach and stage manager for musicals, died Dec. 21 after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
It is a bit a mystery as to how the 72-year-old North Buffalo man, who worked at American Brass for 41 years, contracted the virus.
Jody L. Kotowski, a postal service employee for 23 years, was a devoted wife and a champion for her special-needs daughter.
Along with being a devoted father, Valenzuela was a brilliant researcher and scientist who contributed to the development of the PSA test to screen for prostate cancer.
"The two of them were very supportive parents and grandparents. Anyone who met them just fell in love with them," said Dottie Dojka's daughter and James Dojka's stepdaughter, Michele Meredith.
Dr. Masling also was described by his family as a strict grammarian and lover of language who never tired of pointing out the grammatical errors made by loved ones and strangers alike.
Annette Masling, former head librarian at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, was the first one in her downtown Buffalo home to contract Covid-19 in December.
This is part of a series of stories on Western New Yorkers who have died from Covid-19. Read more at 'Profiles of a Pandemic.'
Mr. Gottlieb told The Buffalo News, as part of the "Survivors of the Holocaust" series, of how he and his parents narrowly escaped being captured by Nazis.
Elaine M. Luparello, was hospitalized in Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital for congestive heart failure in November. After several trips to a rehab facility and back to the hospital, she was diagnosed with Covid-19.
Paul L. Bohanna adored his family and was a great example of a father and a husband, said his daughter Shyla Kelcy.
Dr. DePerro died Monday, March 1, 2021, of complications from Covid-19.
"Her generosity was far-reaching," said Sandra Ash, one of Mrs. Groszkowski's two daughters. "She left the world a better place and that is testimony of a life well lived."
Patricia A. Thompson Scholz, an award-winning real estate broker, died March 25 in Sisters Hospital St. Joseph Campus, Cheektowaga, 18 days after she was admitted for treatment of Covid-19.
Jan. 18, 1940 – March 27, 2021
Williams' gift "was very much about how he made others feel," friend Suzanne Shatzel said. "He was this larger-than-life person that gave nothing but love to the world."
Although working full-time and always chipping away at home improvement projects, Michael T. Roth looked for a way to give back to the communi…
For the past 20 years, Deborah A. Lytle, a registered nurse and health care administrator, cared for patients and taught medical professionals despite her own health challenges.
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Harry Hays, 97, said he was grateful to see his wife for a couple of hours the day before she died, but he is heartbroken.
On Thursday, Erie County surpassed the grim milestone of 1,000 such deaths due to Covid-19. That's how the story of this virus often is told – in numbers. But the human story is so much more painful.
Adrienne K. Johnson, 60, died Dec. 20, four days after learning that he had tested positive for the virus, according to his sister, who said she believes that he was exposed to Covid-19 through his employment.
