Ramon Gonzalez was a dedicated husband and father looking forward to celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary next year — until a drunk driver sparked a four-car pileup that claimed his life in the Bronx — his family says.
“It’s like a dream. It’s like it didn’t happen,” the 61-year-old Gonzalez’s younger sister, who asked that her name be withheld, told the Daily News. “This has had a big impact on us.”
Gonzalez and his wife were riding in the Honda CR-V driven by their 21-year-old son on the Bruckner Expressway near Pelham Parkway at 5:25 a.m. Sunday when they struck a 2009 Honda Pilot driven by a drunk 51-year-old Corey Miles, cops and Gonzalez’s family said.
The collision caused the CR-V to careen into a Honda HR-V operated by a 27-year-old man, which in turn collided with a box truck helmed by a 53-year-old man, cops said.
Paramedics rushed Gonzalez and his wife to Jacobi Medical Center but only she could be saved. The couple lived in Wakefield, cops said.
The driver of the Honda HR-V was also taken to Jacobi Medical Center, along with Miles and a 49-year-old woman riding in his Pilot, cops said.
Gonzalez’s son and the box truck driver declined medical attention.
Police charged Miles with driving while intoxicated. He lives in Rockaway Beach, Queens, according to cops.
The sudden loss of Gonzalez, who acted as the family patriarch in the wake of his father’s death two years ago, has left his family in shock.
“I’m trying to understand the reality of it,” said Gonzalez’s younger brother, Agustin Gonzalez. “You don’t expect this kind of thing to happen.”
Gonzalez immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the 1980s, family said. He married his wife in 1985 and the couple fathered two sons and a daughter who gave him three grandchildren, according to his sister.
“He was so dedicated to his wife and children, his whole family,” she said.
Gonzalez worked at the same Fine Fair supermarket in Williamsbridge for more than 30 years, quickly rising from maintenance worker to manager through sheer hard work, according to his boss.
“It was just a little over a year from the time he joined as a maintenance worker and moved to being a manager,” said Carlos Collado, who owns the White Plains Road supermarket. “The number-one thing about him was how dedicated and responsible he was.”
Colleagues praised Gonzalez for his easy-going demeanor, saying he was always willing to lend an ear.
“He was a great guy, never had problems with anyone,” said 62-year-old Juan Nunez, who worked at Fine Fair with Gonzalez. “I would just go to him whenever I needed to talk.”
A devoted Catholic, Gonzalez’s sister last saw her brother at their mother’s house, where he spent many Sundays in prayer.
“I saw him last weekend, we met at my mom’s house,” she said. “He was coming to pray the rosary with my mom.”
If he wasn’t at church, Gonzalez could often be found showing his devotion to his favorite ball club in Queens.
“He was a die-hard Mets fan. He went to many games,” said brother Agustin Gonzalez. “He used to take the kids. We are Mets fans. That’s our team, you can put it that way.”
