'He Was The Best': Father Of Two Chased Dream Until Death, Family Says

TINLEY PARK, IL — Santos Munoz-Zermeno's friends and family didn't dress up for his funeral.

They came in work boots, and jeans, and hoodies— a final gesture toward the 37-year-old father of two who prided himself on the landscaping business he built from scratch. Munoz-Zermeno kept at that until just weeks before his death, to be sure his loyal clients' yards were tended to.

The business Santos Lawn and Landscaping was his dream, his cousin Lauren Gerlick told Patch, and it's one he lived until his body could no longer keep up. He died Sept. 23, nearly two years after his diagnosis with synovial sarcoma, a rare cancer that surfaced in tumors along his esophagus.

"He would want you guys in work clothes," Gerlick told his friends and family before his services.

So they had custom hoodies made same-day, with the name of his business printed on them.

Munoz-Zermeno, who moved to Illinois from Mexico when he was 16, lived with his cousin Gerlick and her family, quickly becoming more like a son to her parents.

"The best cousin," Gerlick said. "I would really call him more of a brother."

The family first lived together in Monee, before Munoz-Zermeno went to live with his sister in Chicago Heights, where he would meet his wife, Cathy. They have two sons together: 9-year-old Gavin, and 6-year-old Noah. They moved from Chicago Heights, to Chicago, to Indiana. He started his business to support his family. As their sons grew, he shared his love of fishing, taking them every weekend to the Kankakee River. They would grill, fish and make a day of it.

"That was their weekend/summer thing," Gerlick said. "He was a wonderful father, husband."

In August 2021, Munoz-Zermeno had a persistent cough, which some doctors originally diagnosed as acid reflux. When it continued, Cathy insisted on additional opinions, leading to the discovery of tumors growing against his esophagus and the diagnosis of synovial sarcoma. Synovial sarcoma is a cancer that can come from different types of soft tissue, such as muscle or ligaments, also forming in soft tissues in the lung or abdomen. It is rare, accounting for five to 10 percent of soft-tissue tumors. For every one million people, one to two are diagnosed with synovial sarcoma per year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Munoz-Zermeno sought aggressive treatment, undergoing chemo and radiation. His condition rapidly declined in the last months and weeks, Gerlick said, and her family moved Munoz-Zermno and his family to Tinley Park to be closer to them. He required round-the-clock care, Gerlick said. His wife often stayed home, or worked remotely in her bookkeeping position, to help care for him and their children. Gerlick and her family stepped in, also, with childcare and as backup with other tasks.

"Everything got thrown off these last few months," she said, "because his health really declined and went downhill."

On Aug. 31, doctors told him he had just a month left to live. They were going to make it a month to remember. They planned a family vacation to a lake in Wisconsin, the group set to leave Sept. 27. He scoffed at his prognosis, Gerlick said, hellbent on making it to that trip.

"'I don’t care what the doctors tell me,'" Gerlick remembers him saying. "'I’m going to make it to that vacation.'"

He would have turned 38 years old on Nov. 1—they threw him a birthday party earlier this month with 200 of his friends and family around him. They even flew his mother in from Mexico. It was meant more as a celebration of his life, Gerlick said. He loved it.

"He loved family and friends, hanging out having a good time," Gerlick said. "... He had the time of his life."

Gerlick's family started an online fundraiser for Munoz's family, to offset the cost of arrangements, and to give his wife and sons financial support.

"We've been helping for so long, we’ve exhausted our options, monetary-wise," Gerlick told Patch. "We were trying to help in every way we could."

As his health faltered, Munoz-Zermeno still wanted to show up for his customers.

"Santos was meticulous about cutting his customers' lawns and took much pride in his profession," family wrote in his obituary.

His family respected his work ethic, Gerlick said.

"He just stopped cutting grass a month and a half ago, he only had three jobs left," she said.

With Munoz-Zermeno too weak to complete the jobs, his wife, Gerlick and her husband tended to them, trimming customers' bushes, mowing lawns and completing a fall cleanup.

"Cathy wasn’t giving up on the business," Gerlick said. "She would make his dream come true, she wouldn’t give up on his business."

Now with services passed, Gerlick is relieved they raised the funds necessary to give him a proper burial, but concern lingers for the family's future without Munoz-Zermeno. The two shared a truck—his work truck—and its condition is deteriorating. Having missed some work to care for him, Cathy has fallen behind on rent, Gerlick said.

The family has helped as much as they can, she said, and Cathy had asked them to hold off on any fundraising efforts, in fear it would discourage Santos from fighting.

In the days since his passing, the fundraiser has generated $11,000, but Gerlick is hoping to see more come in. Munoz-Zermeno's sons will need therapy, she worries, as the impact of their loss sets in.

"His kids were his entire world," Gerlick said. "The 6-year-old slept with him every night, holding his hand.

"He’s got great boys."

Gerlick remembers her "brother" as always smiling, quick to flash a peace sign. He worked hard at his business, she said, with dreams of buying his family a house, with a yard and a dog.

"He was a wonderful husband to Cathy," Gerlick said. "...Everybody at the ceremony yesterday said there was never a time you did not see this man smile, even when he was in pain."

Gerlick wants to make sure his sons are taken care of.

"Our family’s very concerned about the boys," she said. "... I don’t think it’s hit them yet."