This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.
Eddie Gancayco spent three decades working in food service at some of New York’s most prestigious institutions, including Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. As manager of the cafeteria and catering there the last half-dozen years, he helped feed the hospital’s doctors and nurses.
Some of the same doctors and nurses treated him during his six-week battle with the new coronavirus. Mr. Gancayco died on May 6 of complications from the infection. He was 62.
He became one of the growing number of nonmedical workers who kept hospitals clean and safe and their staff members nourished before succumbing to the virus themselves.
He was admitted to Mount Sinai on April 3 and diagnosed with the virus after being sick at home for about two weeks, his daughter, Amanda Gancayco Travers, said. Many of the doctors and nurses who called to provide daily updates on her father’s condition knew Mr. Gancayco from the cafeteria and had fond feelings for him, she said.
“He is one of us, and we’re taking care of him as best we can,” she said a doctor in the intensive care unit told her.
When the virus took hold in New York, and Mount Sinai began experiencing a surge in patients, Ms. Travers said she had urged her father to consider taking time off to protect himself.
He declined, citing the people who relied on him, she said. “He was more thinking about how we are going to serve the doctors and nurses who need food and service under the new parameters,” she said. “He was always thinking about other people, and how he could help them.”
Eduardo Luis Gancayco was born on Oct. 27, 1957 in Manila. He was one of nine children of Miguel Gancayco, who owned a construction company, and Mary Gancayco, a stay-at-home mother.
Mr. Gancayco and his wife Teresa left the Philippines for the United States in the early 1980s and eventually settled in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens. He quickly came to feel at home in the city, embracing its diversity and energy, and becoming an avid Knicks fan.
Instilled with a love of cooking during his years in the Philippines, Mr. Gancayco worked at restaurants. He eventually took a job as a barista at a cafe run by Restaurant Associates, a food services company.
Mr. Gancayco worked his way up, serving in several jobs in cafeterias at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a law firm and a bank, before moving into management.
Along with his wife and daughter, he is survived by his mother and seven siblings.
Mr. Gancayco took his love of hospitality home with him, coordinating and making elaborate spreads for all manner of family gatherings, including holiday dinners, bridal showers and Sunday brunches, Ms. Travers said.
“He was the consummate host, and could never sit down and enjoy,” she said. Even at her wedding in June 2018 at the Central Park Boathouse, she recalled, her father flitted about, greeting guests, asking them if they needed anything and making sure everyone was enjoying themselves.
“I had to remind him, ‘Dad this is your event, you are not managing it. You should enjoy it,’” she said. He appears to have taken her advice. As he delivered a toast, he smiled broadly, then downed two glasses of bubbly and implored his guests to have a good time.
