PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Among the more than 100 lives lost in the devastating roof collapse was a Providence restaurateur.
His friends and former staff said they are still coming to terms with this major loss.
The unimaginable.
“You just open up your phone and the first thing you see is a roof collapse at a club. It’s definitely something upsetting,” said social media star and Dominican “Tropicana Danny” Feliz.
The roof collapse happened during a merengue concert in the nation’s capital of Santo Domingo, during the Jet Set’s merengue concert.
One of the victims was his former boss, Fray Luis Rosario.
“I was just in disbelief. I was just like– there’s no way. What are the odds? Fray was an awesome awesome guy. Humble. Very loving. He treated all of his workers like they were family,” said Feliz.
“He had a really good sense of humor and he had this great entrepreneurial spirit.”
Feliz said Rosario taught him about business while he worked at both Terra Lune Cafe and Terra Negra.
“I actually worked for him at Terra Luna and Terra Negra and that was when I started doing the whole “Dancing Security Guard” thing, when I got fired, I eventually started working with him,” he said. “It was the best experience honestly…He definitely helped me understand a lot of the business aspects. He had meetings and some of his meetings I’d be there to listen and then I implemented it into what I do today.”
Federal Hill Commerce Association President Rick Simone remembers Rosario for his successful restaurants on the Hill.
“He had two locations on Federal Hill with Terra Luna and Terra Negra, and literally just last week he had bought the buildings for both businesses a week ago so, it’s still something that’s hard to process for a lot of people,” said Simone.
He said he was in the Dominican Republic, and left a day before the roof collapsed.
Simone said the nightclub is known to have merengues on Mondays.
“This venue is a very popular venue. I’ve been invited to it several times. Literally dozens of friends, of people who have gone to this venue. So to hear it had happened at this venue is more shocking,” he said.
“Knowing what the venue was and knowing what it means to Dominicans… I mean Monday night for this place is a regular occurrence. It was hard to imagine that- that was the place that had this issue.”
Mayor Brett Smiley — the Providence City Council–and Representative Magaziner chiming in on social media to pay their respects to the business owner.
While both Federal Hill businesses are open, the staff and family are in mourning.
“I really feel for his family– for the staff at both locations. He has a restaurant in Lawrence Mass., and in the Dominican Republic, which was why he has in the Dominican so it’s a really challenging thing to hear.”
“Definitely a lot of pain– but you can definitely see a lot of the Dominicans are there for each other so definitely condolences to all of them.”
