Jose Manuel Lopez, born on February 11th, 1938 in Havana, Cuba, passed on April 24th, 2026. He came to the States May 26, 1956 and settled in New York where he met his wife, Oneida (Santa). They married on June 26, 1959 and had their first two children, Lazaro (1960) and Frances (1964).

In 1968, they relocated to Miami, Florida, where they had their third child, Audriann (1979).  The family briefly moved to Orlando, Florida from 1986-1988, then back to Miami until 2016, when Jose and Oneida moved to Daytona Beach, Florida with their youngest daughter and her husband until 2019 and finally settling in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Jose was preceded in death by his parents, Jose Manuel Lopez and Carmela Elodia Lopez (Jorge), sister, Lilian Martinez (Lopez), sister, Elsa Del Castillo (Lopez), brother-in-law, Emilio Del Castillo, father-in-law, Isidro Sigler, mother-in-law, Cristina, brother-in-law Inocente Sigler, and sister-in-law, Esperanza Corella.

He leaves behind his wife Oneida, son Lazaro and his wife Paul Diaz, daughter Frances Molina (Lopez) and her husband Pedro Molina, daughter Audriann Lopez-Bench and her husband Carson Bench, granddaughter Vanessa Gonzalez and her children, granddaughter Yesenia Boyd (Lopez) and her husband Dennis Boyd and their children, granddaughter Natalie Sanchez (Gonzalez) and her husband Enrique Sanchez and their children, their granddaughter Ashley Lopez as well as nieces, nephews, their spouses and children.

Jose was a carpenter; a trade he started to learn in Cuba at age 11 from his grandfather. He graduated from Artes y Oficio, a technical school in Cuba as a machinist. When he came the States, he worked in various factories and was the Chariman of the Carpenter's Union in New York. As a foreman in the factory he designed a round bathroom vanity, and the luggage rack and dresser for Howard Johnson Hotels.

In Miami, he was the foremen in charge of a planned unit development that still stands today and was the foremen in charge of the first three McDonald's built in South Florida.

As a Project Manger he built 43 custom homes for Steven Shere.

Jose then worked for Project Advisors which later became the largest Latin owned construction company on the East Coast where he worked on the first HUD Section 8 projects and he even had to obtain Secret Service security clearance to meet Lillian Carter, President Carter's mother, due to working on a project in his boss's home who was friends with the Carters.  He was in charge of two hospital builds and a nursing home.

Later in life, he opened his own construction company, Hurricane Construction, with his son, Lazaro, and was the exclusive contractor who installed the new phone lines and pay phones in South Florida for Southern Bell (now AT&T). He was involved in helping rebuild after Hurricane Andrew,  and was contracted by the City of Miami to build the M Monument designed by R&R Studios at the Riverwalk Metromover Station in Downtown Miami. He also added an art studio addition in Miami Beach for the artist Brito, built a structure for Roy Black, ESQ in his Coral Gables home. During this time, he also worked at Key Power Institute as an instructor for their construction program.

Once he retired from construction he worked in maintenance at several buildings in Miami Beach and eventually at the Miccosukee Casino & Resort. In his 70's, he obtained his CDL license and drove school buses for a private school bus company until 2016.

As a husband, he taught Oneida how to drive, cook, play dominoes and cards. When he would bring her to game night and family pushed back because of the times, he said my wife goes where I go. They spent almost 67 years married and built a beautiful life. At one point, they even had four of their nieces and nephews living with them, they owned three homes together; they faced and overcame many challenges together. Jose's greatest pride was his children.

As a father he coached his son's baseball team in the summer of 1973 and that winter became the manager of the team until Lazaro graduated high school in 1978.  Even playing an international team which led to the growth of amateur ball which eventually paved the way to brining Major League Baseball to Florida.

He also briefly coached his daughter's softball team for two seasons, but Frances wasn't as into ball as Lazaro.

He taught his children everything he knew, from learning how to ride a bike, to how to use a hammer and would acquire new knowledge to share with them however he could.  He taught everyone in the family how to drive.

From his wife, "he was the love of my life and I know I was the love of his life. He taught me so many things and loved me as I was. He kept the romantic tradition of writing me love letters and poetry. He knew me inside out and I the same. After so many years, we no longer needed words to communicate."

From his children, "there are so many words to describe the human our father was, loving, loyal, sensitive, fun, cheesy, smart, talented, strong, hard working, dedicated, accepting, reliable, giving, a family man. Family was everything to our dad.

He faced so many trials and tribulations from leaving his native country at 18 to injuries at work causing him to lose toes and full use of his left hand to a broken shoulder in his 80's and eventually cancer. Even through all of this, he never complained about his suffering.

The hardest thing in life for him was watching those he loved go through trials and tribulations and not being able to fix it. Seeing our mom ill was the hardest on him. Almost 67 years together and though they bickered, they were each other's world along with us kids.

Our dad was tired, tired of struggling and tired of watching us struggle. He hated being dependent on anyone. Yet, when he knew it was time, he had the integrity to hang his car keys up because he couldn't bear to hurt someone due to the loss of his faculties. He was a man and a good one.

He taught us to weigh the good and bad in people and when there was more good than bad, to throw the bad aside.

He was proud of the life he and our mom created and  we wouldn't want any other father than him.

Our only wish is that his last years were easier, but those aren't choices we get to make.

We are grateful he is no longer in pain, but miss him immensely.

Visit us Papi and watch over us as you always have. "

We love you, until we meet again