Loved ones honor SWFL nurse who died with scholarship fund

A frontline hero of the pandemic in Southwest Florida is being honored since his death last year. Loved ones hope his name will be a guiding light for students working to fill similar shoes.

Nurse Miguel Martinez, 28, died in the summer of 2020. He worked at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.

Martinez’s family and friends are in the process of forming the Miguel Martinez Jr. Memorial Scholarship for nursing students in his honor.

He died in July 2020, but the official cause of death has not been made available.

“It was heartbreaking because I never imagined that someone that was so young, so full of life, his life would end so quickly,” said Victoria Valencia, Martienz’s friend.

Martinez proudly worked as a nurse at the children’s hospital. While working on the front lines, he contracted COVID-19.

It’s still hard for Valencia to think about. The two met at the USF, where she learned his life story.

“When he was 14, his dad got diagnosed with cancer, so he had to go through the whole process of his dad getting sicker and sicker,’” Valencia explained.

Martinez’s father died and left behind his wife and his six children, and Martinez did farm work to support the family. Later on, he turned his pain into a passion and became a man who cared for people who were sick.

“It’s hard to imagine how he could not have been successful as a nurse,” Valencia said.

Martinez’s friends and family continue to mourn the loss of their loved one, but as he did, they plan to turn their pain into a passion.

“I think he would like to help other people that were where he was before,” Valencia said. “People who could relate to him. People that are walking through the same path that he was walking many years ago.”

He will not lead in person not, but his friend believes he will lead by a life well-lived.

“I think he would be proud,” Valencia said.

MORE: USF Foundation – Miguel Martinez Jr. Memorial Scholarship

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated a cause of death that has not been officially confirmed.