CORONA — A neighborhood street corner will be renamed next month in honor of Edward Guida, a longtime city marshal and funeral director who supporters say mixed kindness in with his tough jobs.
The corner of 104th Street and 48th Avenue will be renamed "Edward Guida Way" during a ceremony on May 7, officials said.
Guida — who was born and raised in Corona — died in May 2014 after a sudden illness, his wife Mary said.
Guida's death was a shock. But Mary and their son, Edward Guida, Jr. — known as Junior — had little time to grieve as they needed to return to running the family business, the Guida Funeral Home, they said.
Guida was buried on a Monday, "and on Tuesday I was back to work," Mary said.
She wasn't thinking of anything other than keeping the family afloat when the community board and Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland approached them and suggested the street renaming.
"At the time when my husband passed, I wasn't thinking of that," Guida said, adding that she was honored and surprised by the honor.
Ferreras-Copeland said that while it isn't often a neighborhood honors a city marshal, Guida "was a very special one."
Guida was a "noble and generous servant of the Corona community," Ferreras-Copeland said while speaking about the renaming at an official event with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
"As a city marshal he was loved and respected for his compassion and ethics, and for always protecting the interests of his neighbors," she added. "As a businessman and owner of the Guida funeral home he was sympathetic to families mourning the loss of their loved ones."
The elder Guida ran his family's funeral home, which opened in 1909, and was also involved in the community, working with the Corona Lions Club and donating to local charities.
He met his wife Mary in the neighborhood, and Ed "pursued her through church," she said. They married in 1976.
"He was generous, loving , caring, respectful," she said. "I miss him more now than when he first passed away."
During his time as a marshal, Guida had been attacked and shot at, his family said.
He also dealt with people going through some of their worst moments, forcing evictions of homes and businesses.
But Guida mixed a caring nature into the job, Mary said.
"Even though he evicted people, he was loving. He took to heart how to guide people, he really assisted them with information," she said.
"He was tough when he had to be."
Junior took over his father's marshal business in December, and he wears his father's badge number.
"He has the same personality as his father. He understands a person at their low point," Mary said, adding that she always told her husband and son, "There's no need to be tough out there. You have to be kind.'"
Each summer, Guida and his friends would line beach chairs in front of the funeral home and smoke cigars.
"They called it 'Corona Beach,'" Mary said.
His friends still set up on 104th Street, in Eddy's absence.
Now that street corner across from their "beach" will be named in his honor, a way to remember his presence, Ferreras-Copeland said.
"You can always feel Eddy there, but now he will have a name place," she said.
