Fairy godmother who helped friend find love, Gloria Machado died in Surfside collapse
To Aymee Zubizarreta, Gloria Machado was more than a friend who helped secure a venue for her wedding.
She was the fairy godmother who set Zubizarreta’s love story in motion when she invited the 30-something for lunch and shared advice on finding a partner and living a happy life. Zubizarreta was sad because all her friends were married with babies and she was starting a new life after years away from Miami.
Machado put her on the path to finding love and making her dream come true.
“She took me to lunch at the Indian Creek Country Club. We were walking around the grounds and I said ‘My God, this is beautiful. I want to get married here. My prince is still out there,’ ” Zubizarreta said. “She gave me confidence to go out and meet that person.”
The marketing and public relations executive took a postcard of the club and put it on her vision board. “Within six months, I met someone, he proposed, and six months later we got married at Indian Creek Country Club.”
The April 2009 wedding was everything she had dreamed of and Machado’s membership at the coveted club allowed Zubizarreta to say “I do” at a location that was magical, she said.
Machado, 71, lived in unit 1111 of Champlain Towers South, the condo tower that partially collapsed in Surfside on
June 24, killing 98 people. She had rented the condo in December 2019 after downsizing from a large apartment she owned at Majestic Tower Condo in Bal Harbour, according to friends. Her body was recovered by authorities on July 7 and identified the following day, according to MiamiDade Police.
Machado, who was born in Puerto Rico but lived in Miami most of her life, was married to Ford dealership owner Gus Machado. She first married Jorge Luis Rouco in 1971 and had a son, Jorge Rouco. In 1977, she married Machado, Miami-Dade County records show.
“She helped him create the company that we all know as Gus Machado Ford. She was literally by his side every step of the way. He has a beautiful immigrant story and she was an important part of it,” Zubizarreta said.
Friends described Gloria Machado as a sophisticated and elegant woman who lived a privileged life but who was extremely generous to friends. In her lifetime, she owned two houses in Indian Creek Island, the private horseshoe-shaped enclave with just 34 homes that has been called “billionaire bunker.”
“She would always invite all her friends to lunch at the country club and she always cheered us up, with that beautiful smile that you see in every photo of Gloria,” said Millie Garcia Navarro, a longtime friend and Zubizarreta’s mother.
Though Machado was used to a life of luxury, her biggest passion was spending time with her son and her two grandchildren, Navarro said.
When Machado was identified as one of the 98 victims of the collapse, Navarro and Zubizarreta took an arrangement of white orchids to the memorial in Surfside.
“Every time I see my wedding pictures, I think of her,” said Zubizarreta.
Adriana Brasileiro: (305) 376-2576, @AdriBras