Station Agent Robert Simon, 39, Dies of the Virus

Beloved Station Agent Robert Simon, a cherished member of his Washington Heights neighborhood, died of the Coronavirus on April 16, 2020.  He was only 39 years old and had been on the job with Transit since 2014. 

He worked at the 175th Street Station near his home in upper Manhattan.  Robert was known to greet riders with a smile and music playing from his booth. He and his wife, Charlene, had just married in November 2019, completing a 7-year relationship of blending their two families.  They had known each other since they were 14.

Charlene said that so many people in the neighborhood are mourning her husband’s passing, from the bodega store owner down the street, to the workers at the restaurant he frequented near his station, to the elderly lady who made him Russian candies and had his kids call her grandmother. "Everybody in the community just gravitated towards him. He always had a smile on his face — people always felt like he was their best friend,” said a grieving Charlene.

Brother Simon came down with a cough and fever on March 19, 2020.  Days later he was rushed to a hospital with shortness of breath and physical weakness.  In the hospital, he received oxygen and a series of other treatments, including being placed into an induced coma and put on a ventilator. Sister-in-law Wendy Holguin said: "Robert was the epitome of what a good man is.” Robert is survived by Charlene, three children, four brothers, a sister, his father, stepmother, mother, and a host of friends and co-workers in Station Division.