Well-Loved Station Agent Budlino Ramirez, 58, Falls to the Virus

Budlino Ramirez with grandson Jayvyn
Budlino Ramirez with grandson Jayvyn

Hundreds within the Union are joining his family in mourning the passing of Budlino Ramirez, 58, a dedicated Station Agent who regularly went above and beyond for family and friends. Brother Ramirez, most recently assigned to Bedford Park, worked many different locations covering RDO’s before his passing — a work pattern he shared with many other Station Agents who came down with the coronavirus and that may have exposed him to a significantly higher viral load.

On March 25, he texted his daughter, Brittany, saying he had chest pains and was coughing hard. Three days before, he had left his mother’s home where he had been staying for his own apartment, concerned that she would be infected and believing he already had been exposed. Battling the virus alone, he received supplies from his mother, and tried to rest and recuperate. He visited a doctor a few days later, who confirmed an upper respiratory infection, according to his brother Steve. When the family didn’t hear from him a few days later, they called police and forced the door, finding Budlino lying lifeless on April 6.
 

With 26 years in transit, and having just obtained his insurance broker’s license, Budlino was looking forward to a rewarding retirement, his brother said. He was in the US Marine Corps and then served as a Reservist for eight years. Growing up on 134th Street in Manhattanville, Budlino was a gifted athlete, "a great football player despite being only 5'3"," his brother said. In 1976, Budlino was named MVP of the Junior Division of the Touch Football Tournament sponsored by McDonald's restaurants after he led his squad, Annunciation Playground from 135th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, to victory over 200 teams that competed from all five boroughs. He received the championship trophy from former New York Jet Sam DeLuca.

“He was a really good brother, and a truly great son,” brother Steve said. “He took custody of his children after his divorce and raised his two kids, Tristan and Brittany, when they were young teens. He was a man’s man. He took his mother to Italy last year and made her dreams come true.”

Besides his children and his brothers Steve and Julio, Brother Ramirez also leaves three grandchildren.

IB ImageIn the photo: Budlino is in the front row, left of center, in black shorts. His brother, Steve, is at his left and his younger brother, Julio is at his left.