2 beloved seniors die days after Bx. horrors
1 hit by bus, other stricken driving
One rubbed elbows with Beatles great John Lennon at an Upper West Side cafe, and found love late in life. The other battled health problems, and was devoted to his soul mate for more than four decades.
The long, rich lives of building manager George Dingfelder, 78, and maintenance man Juan Rosario, 81, ended one day and 2 miles apart in the Bronx. Dingfelder was mowed down by a hurtling MTA bus in Morris Park on Oct. 29. Rosario suffered a medical episode behind the wheel of his car and crashed Oct. 20 in Baychester.
Each man lingered at Jacobi Medical Center before dying, the NYPD said Monday.
Their families now grieve their deaths and honor their lives.
Rosario died Wednesday after 15 days on a ventilator from injuries suffered after the crash that also killed his beloved wife of 45 years, Hilda.
Aurea Rosario, a cousin raised by Juan, recounted Monday that the family gathered at his hospital bedside to pay their respects. They played music and said their goodbyes.
“He left on his own, with lots of prayers; lots and lots of prayers,” she said. “The doctors informed us that from his injuries, he wasn’t gonna recuperate. His [head] was damaged, his kidneys were damaged, his heart was damaged. If he was gonna come out, he would be in a vegetative state and he would suffer.”
Rosario was behind the wheel of his 1999 Lincoln Town Car when a medical episode caused him to lose control, police said. He hit a Chevy Suburban near Allerton Ave. and E. Gun Hill Road.
A vehicle behind the crashed Suburban attempted to swerve to the right, but struck the SUV’s passenger side. Hilda, 74, was killed in the impact.
The couple met in Philadelphia and married in Puerto Rico 45 years ago. Juan Rosario worked in the CBS maintenance division and survived a string of ailments — diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, two minor strokes and slight kidney failure.
The family weighed shutting off the ventilator once it was clear he would not recover. Maria Esther Rosario, Juan and Hilda’s only stepdaughter, said she watched the movements on his heart monitor and what seemed to be faint breath breath coming in and out — and hesitated.
A day after she left the hospital, Maria said she “felt a peace” knowing he was gone, “because I heard him telling me that I didn’t have to make that decision.”
Juan died on his own, and they were spared the agonizing choice. He could be with his wife again.
“I believe in my heart that it was a what he wanted, because they were like two lovebirds,” she said. “They did everything together. My worry was that if he [came out of the hospital], he would die knowing that his wife died. I didn’t even wanna tell him.”
At his wake, Juan’s family talked about his contributions — at the CBS offices on W. 52nd St., where he was well-liked, at a last Thanksgiving the family celebrated, and how he shared his wisdom with grandson Jose Estrada, 26.
“The only memories we have are our conversations. Whenever I went over there, it was a privilege. They were priceless moments for me,” Estrada said. “In his way, he used to always prepare me for adulthood.”
Dingfelder died at Jacobi a day earlier than Rosario and five days after the city bus plowed into him at Morris Park Ave. and Radcliff Ave. On Monday, the retired building manager lay in repose at the Joseph A. Lucchese Funeral Home, a few blocks from his home and a stone’s toss from Patsy’s Pizzeria, a favorite haunt.
At his side, as she was for more than a decade, was Dingfelder’s close friend Louise Schween, who in the absence of immediate family was left with the decision to take him off life support.
“His cousin lives in Maryland, and she and I spoke and she said we’ve known each other for so long, and she said you can make all of the decisions. Those were George’s wishes anyway,” she said.
The casket was surrounded by flowers, a handful of old friends and some workers from Patsy’s.
“George used to tell jokes all the time. He loved to make people laugh. He really never wanted to be serious,” Schween said. “He had a really good heart.”
Schween said she went to feed his 17-year-old orange tabby, Baby, on Thursday and found the feline, too, had died. Schween had Baby cremated and her remains placed in a box that went in Dingfelder’s casket.
“I said George took Baby with him,” said friend Carol Landy, 73. “Isn’t that sad? Isn’t that weird?.”
Dingfelder had stepped out of the nearby Golden Eagle Restaurant on Oct. 29 moments after having a dinner date with friends when he was mowed down.
He was going to take a short ride in one friend’s car but abruptly decided to walk, Schween previously told the Daily News.
“This bus came down and and hit George. He [the bus driver] doesn’t have to stop for another four to five blocks so he was just barreling through,” Schween told
The News.
Police said Dingfelder was in the crosswalk but was walking against the red light.
Schween said Dingfelder, a manager for an Upper West Side building, frequented Cafe La Fortuna for years. There, he often had coffee with Lennon, who lived a block away in the Dakota. He also ran into Mary Tyler Moore and a pushy Lauren Bacall in line at a bank.
“She says, ‘ I’m Lauren Bacall.’ And George says, ‘We’ll, I’m George Dingfelder, and I’ve been on this line for an hour.’ He said the manager came running over to take care of her,” Schween recalled.
Dingfelder had been friends with Schween’s husband for many years until her husband died 15 years ago. They became closer and often took day trips to Connecticut to visit malls or take in a movie.
“Today is the worst of them, saying goodbye,” Schween said.
“About 10 days before the accident, we all had dinner together at Patsy’s, and he enjoyed himself so much. He told them at the end of the night, ‘We all have to do this again soon.’ Well, we’ll be doing it again tonight.”
Dingfelder will be buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, Westchester County.
He was the 81st pedestrian to die in a vehicle crash this year, compared with 96 over the same period in 2019.
Overall, 204 people have died in crashes so far this year, compared with 185 in 2019, a jump of 10.2%.
There were no summonses issued in either incident.