‘He loved life’: Marcus Guara dies in condo collapse. Wife, young daughters still missing
As soon as the Champlain Towers South condo tower partially collapsed Thursday morning in Surfside, friends of Marcus Guara, 52, began sharing memories of the South Florida native on social media.
Accompanying faded photos of teen boys with shaggy hairdos on bikes are heartfelt messages describing days gone by spent at the now-closed Boystown BMX track in South Dade in the 1980s.
“He didn’t stay mad at anyone for very long,” recalled Guara’s childhood friend Jeff Keller in a Facebook post. “That’s who he was.”
Search-and-rescue teams pulled Guara’s body from the rubble Saturday and identified him Monday, according to Miami-Dade Police. He is one of 12 people confirmed dead by Miami-Dade police as of Tuesday. His wife, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, and daughters, Lucia Guara, 11, and Emma Guara, 4, are still missing along with 146 others who are unaccounted for as of Tuesday. The family lived on the eighth floor.
Guara’s cousin Peter Milián said the family is “extremely grateful” to the first responders who are working on the search-and-rescue effort. They are hopeful the tragedy can continue to unite the community.
“We’re realistic, but we always pray for a miracle,” Milián said.
Throughout his days racing BMX bikes as a kid, attending Christopher Columbus High School, rowing at the University of Miami and working in the South Florida hospitality industry, Guara remained close to many friends and his family.
He enjoyed being outdoors, attending family barbecues, and participating in lively conversations on the extended family group chat. He was competitive, Milián said, but always willing to help others out.
After attending Christopher Columbus High School, Guara studied business at the University of Miami, where he was the captain of the rowing team and won many competitions, Milián said.
Guara worked as a regional sales manager for New York-based bed and bath textile company Kassatex. The company’s founder and CEO Ernesto Khoudari said Guara was an “amazing asset to the team.”
“From the moment he started working with us, his creativity, vivacity for the business, charming smile, and never-give-up attitude fueled his passion for our company, and his relationships he made along the way,” Khoudari said in a statement.
For several years, Guara and his family had been attending St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, just three blocks from their condo building. On Sunday, in front of a crowd of about 70 parishioners, Father Juan Sosa listed the names of church members who were reported by friends and family as missing in the collapse, including Guara, during a particularly somber Mass.
Guara’s oldest daughter, Lucia, made her first communion at the church in 2019. His youngest, Emma, was baptized there in 2016.
Sosa, who has been the pastor at the church for 10 years, said he recognized the Guara family from Mass when he saw their pictures on television after the collapse.
“They were very connected to the church community,” he said.
Milián said Guara’s family, including his brother Manuel Guara and his sister Annette Guara-Hurst, are devastated by the loss.
“He was a great brother, uncle, cousin, son, and loved his daughters passionately,” Milián said. “He loved life.”
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 6:59 PM.
