‘He was the best of us’: Miami lawyer missing, daughter and wife injured in Surfside collapse
Edgar Gonzalez — lawyer, friend, husband and devoted father of two — lived with his beloved wife, daughters and dog Daisy on the ninth floor of an oceanfront condo in Surfside, an idyllic home not too far from his downtown office.
He was a debater, a lover of comedy and a friend others leaned on as a dependable presence in their lives.
“He was the best of us,” his law partner and friend Marlin Muller said Friday. “We would always joke with Edgar that he was a better person than we were, that he was going to live to be 120 and we would kick the bucket.”
Gonzalez, his wife, Angela, daughter Deven and dog Daisy were on the ninth floor of the Champlain Towers South condo, which collapsed early Thursday morning, killing at least 18 and leaving 145 people missing in what may be the most deadly accidental building collapse in American history.
According to updates on a verified GoFundMe site, the family fell from the ninth to the fifth story. Angela and Deven were among the first to be pulled from the rubble and hospitalized Thursday.
The couple’s older daughter, Tayler, was not in the building at the time of the collapse.
Gonzalez, 45, is still missing.
Concerns about the building’s safety a month before collapse
Edgar’s sister Adriana Gonzalez Chi told The New York Times that she often told her brother that the condo did not feel safe, in part because of frequent complaints about leaks and mold.
“About a month ago I was standing on the balcony and saying, ‘This is not safe,’ ” she said. “I looked at my niece and said, ‘If you feel the building tremble, run.’ ”
Gonzalez Chi’s niece Deven was conscious throughout the collapse and told her aunt that they fell four stories, from the ninth to the fifth floor.
“It’s going to be a slow process, but they are getting better,” Gonzalez Chi told the Miami Herald Wednesday.
According to updates on the GoFundMe site, Angela Gonzalez, who turned 41 Wednesday, is still hospitalized but “is responding and fighting.” She was intubated but stable, and had a planned surgery for injuries to her pelvis.
“She was responding to my questions and opened her eyes a couple times,” Angela’s friend Joslyn wrote on the GoFundMe site. “She is a miracle! I was so happy to see her, she is one tough lady!”
Daughter is volleyball player at Miami High
Deven, their younger daughter, is a junior volleyball player at Miami Senior High School and was also hospitalized with leg injuries. The 15-year-old had surgery this week and started physical therapy Wednesday.
“She is managing everything with so much strength,” Joslyn wrote.
Gonzalez’s love for his wife and daughters “was so unreal,” Muller said, recalling how Gonzalez often traveled around the state for Deven’s volleyball tournaments.
The lawyer would arrive at the downtown office hours early every morning so he could watch tapes and record statistics for Deven’s coach.
Muller and Gonzalez met on the first day of law school during orientation at St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami Gardens. They shared conservative politics and both had undergraduate degrees from Florida State University.
Gonzalez was born in Cuba and moved to Miami with his family as a young child.
Columbus, FSU, St. Thomas law graduate
A graduate of Miami’s Christopher Columbus High School, he went on to attain a finance degree from FSU. He worked as a loan officer while earning his master’s at Florida International University. His later experience working with the healthcare sector exposed Gonzalez to the way laws have the power to shape how businesses are run, according to a bio on his firm’s site.
This experience sparked his interest in law and eventually led him to law school in 2016.
“He may have had the highest participation grade,” recalls election lawyer and former state Rep. Juan-Carlos Planas, who taught Gonzalez at St. Thomas University. “He was one of the four As [in the election law class].”
The class was an elective, and “only the political nerds took the class,” Planas said.
Josh Dieguez, a Miami Lakes town council member and classmate of Gonzalez’s, remembers him as “incredibly bright” and a student who was always gracious in sharing notes and helping others. The two remained friends for years, and Gonzalez helped Dieguez kick off his town council campaign in 2018.
When he heard the news that Gonzalez was missing in the collapse, he was in a lunch meeting and was “completely caught off guard.”
“It’s just crazy,” he said. “Somebody is here one day and could be gone the next.”
Muller also took the class and eventually, he and Gonzalez would become law partners and friends. Edgar and Angela Gonzalez, Muller and his girlfriend and fellow law partner Yanny Hidalgo and his wife would hang out and see comedy shows together. Last month, they all saw Tim Dillon at Miami Improv in Doral.
The three partners at the Hidalgo Law Firm described their workplace as “an episode of Entourage.”
A few months ago they went golfing at Melreese Country Club, Gonzalez’s first time on the greens. He showed up in a Back to the Future T-shirt, which was out of line with the golf course’s dress code. The group had to go shopping for something with a collar, and missed their tee time.
When they returned the three men were set up with another golfer. It happened to be Glen Rice, three-time NBA All-Star who started his career with the Miami Heat.
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Muller remembered that Gonzalez, a Rice fan, “just out of the blue, hit one great shot.” Rice threw his club, jumped up and down and hugged Gonzalez in celebration. The group got drinks after they finished and Muller said Gonzalez and Rice kept in touch over text.
Those happy memories were just five months ago.
“You don’t realize how good you got it until it’s gone,” Muller said. “How lucky are you that you get to work and hang out with your best friends every day.”
This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 4:58 PM.