- Date Of Death: October 15, 2016
- State: New Jersey
In the early morning hours of October 15, 2016, Pedro Monserrate Jr. passed away surrounded by his loved ones. Known as Pedro, Pete, but mostly Junior, his family knew him as Pop, and he was the greatest husband, father, and grandfather our family could ever imagine having.
He taught us how to love and what it meant to be a man that took nothing but pride in his family. He taught us, that no matter how bad things got, you never turn your back on your family. The life lessons he set for his sons through example mean more to us than any other knowledge we have or will ever gain. We are forever grateful and proud of him and his commitment to family first. Pedro Monserrate Jr, was the strongest, most courageous, hardest working man. He is survived by his adoring wife of 44 years, MaryAnn, his two sons Pedro M. “Mike” Monserrate (Amber C.), and Daniel E. Monserrate Sr. (Amber J-M.), and nine wonderful grandchildren Brianna, Mikayla, Daniel Jr., Dominic, Justin, Alejandro, Elias, Gianna, and Alicia.
He is also survived by his brothers and sisters; Abraham, David, Delores, Porfiria, and Maria-Ines, as well as many many loving nieces, nephews, and brothers and sisters in laws. At times he worked 3 jobs to make sure we never went without. We didn’t need luxury, because we had love and were never denied of anything. Sure, we went on awesome vacations, road trips, and were gifted the newest toys and trends, but the greatest gifts we were ever given was the love and devotion of our parents. They strived on the strengths of each other, which made them great, and it made their arduous and sometimes thankless yet rewarding role as parents seem effortless. Pedro was diagnosed with kidney disease, glomerulonephritis, in 1996 and spent the next 11 years fighting it with multiple medications and dialysis. After needing a quadruple bypass, his son Daniel finally convinced him, after refusing for 2 years, to accept his kidney.
He didn’t want his child making such a huge sacrifice and risk his own health, but Daniel wouldn’t take no for an answer. We are forever grateful for this because it gave us nine more years of love, laughs, and memories with him. Besides recovery from the bypass, that man went to work every day, even on his worst of days, and made it a point to be involved in everyone’s life, and even went back to work after only a month out of the transplant. Pedro would often admit that the greatest choice he ever made was marrying the girl of his dreams. She was his world and once they began having children, family was everything. Each time one of his sons was born he told everyone that it’s the proudest moment of his life.
Each time one of his grandchildren were born he would say the same thing. We’ve never seen anyone so committed to family and friends. He loved working in his vegetable garden and tending to his chickens. He was a coach, a friend, a mentor, your friend’s dad that would fix your bike tire and fix everyone’s car on the street, he could kick a solid steel door off the hinges, he loved the lord, and was admired by so many people simply for being one of the most likeable and genuine men to ever walk the earth. Pop, we honor you for everything that you were. Thank you for loving our mother every second of your 44 year together.
Her love for you will last for eternity. Thank you for being a father we were proud to brag about to everyone. Most of all thank you for not only being our dad, thank you for being our best friend. We live every day of life striving to be the man you were, and will continue to make you proud. We love you, Pop, and will honor what you meant to us every day. We will miss our many talks, our many adventures, and cherish every memory this family has that wouldn’t have been possible without you. On behalf of everyone that will forever CHERISH you, MaryAnn, Mike, and Danny To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Pedro Monserrate please visit our Sympathy Store.
