top of page
OBITUARY
From October 2021 to January 2022, the MISSING TEHM team and I worked on the digital obituaries based on the oral history interviews of Julio Barrios told by Daniel Gutierrez and of David Strug told by Ruth Ottman. The obituaries were published on the MISSING THEM memorials "Remembering the New Yorkers We’ve Lost to COVID‑19"
JULIO BARRIOS
Julio Barrios born on April 12th, 1961, emigrated from Toluca Mexico to New York City when he was 21 years old to give his wife, Amada Barrios, and daughter, Nayely Hernandez, a better life. He settled in Queens and had his son Juan Barrios in July of 1994. Julio eventually took a job as a sky chef at LaGuardia Airport. Julio began his journey as a plumber in 2007; a trade that he maintained for the rest of his life. After a long day of work, Julio would come home, eat dinner & watch his son do his homework. Sometimes he would make them snacks if he were hungry. When Juan began attending Queens College as a first-generation college student, Julio told colleagues, “My American dream came true.” One of his many proudest moments was watching his son graduate along with his daughter-in-law Daniela Gutierrez. “My favorite memory was seeing the look on his face when he saw that his son & I did something that he worked so hard for,” Gutierrez said. Julio built for Daniela a cherry wood desk, where she now works from home every day. Julio died on April 17, 2020, at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens at the age of 57. The family keeps his ashes on the third shelf of the desk he beautifully built.
"His hands were always rough and dry, but they were warm enough to hold my hands."
— Daniela Gutierrez, Julio Barrios’ daughter-in-law
DAVID STRUG
David Strug was born in 1944 in Society Hill, a Philadelphia neighborhood with cobblestone streets and row homes, then occupied by working-class families. He moved to New York City in 1966 to earn a doctorate in anthropology at Columbia University, and his thirst for learning continued with master’s degrees in public health and social work at the University of California, Berkeley and Hunter College, respectively. He became a tenured professor of social work at Yeshiva University, splitting his time between research and his psychotherapy practice. Strug fell in love with Ruth Ottman in 1996. The two unknowingly had lived on the same street in the 1970s and regretted not having met sooner. They married in 1998, settling in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. In 2001, Strug joined Ottman on a trip to Havana, where she was scheduled to teach a class. He began traveling twice a year to Cuba, where he developed close friendships that felt more like family. He died on June 4, 2020, at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Manhattan at the age of 76. Ottman planted a tree in Prospect Park in his honor.
"David made you feel like you were seen."
— Ruth Ottman, David Strug’s wife
bottom of page