by Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz
With tears and laughs, family and friends gathered at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture on July 18 to celebrate the life of Antonio “Tío Tony” Muñiz, Jr. Known and loved by many in the community, Antonio passed away unexpectedly on May 30.
Antonio was born in Lares, Puerto Rico, on the evening of February 6, 1947, to Felicita Perez Camacho and Antonio Muñiz Ruiz. He was the middle child, born two years after his older sister Nellie, after whom Nellie’s Restaurant is named, and his younger brother, Adalberto, who lives in Trujillo Alto. In the 1950s, his family moved to Chicago, leaving behind his home in Castañer, a tiny coffee-growing community between the towns of Lares, Adjuntas, Maricao, and Yauco. Eventually, they settled in the Humboldt Park area, where Antonio attended Lowell Elementary and Tuley High School.
Antonio lived many fascinating lives, serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as a mail carrier, flight attendant, club manager, server, movie extra, and jewelry maker. In San Juan’s Condado district, where he lived as an adult for over two decades, he was well-known among musicians, performers, and political figures. As his niece Yvette recounted at the memorial, Tío Tony returned to Chicago in 2004 after the death of his sister, who had asked him to watch over her children.
Although the transition was difficult, Antonio reintegrated himself into Humboldt Park’s Puerto Rican community. His generous investment enabled Pablo and Cindy Espinosa to open Nellie’s Restaurant. For nearly two decades, he lived on, or blocks from, Paseo Boricua. He spent many hours walking up and down Division Street and throughout Humboldt Park, greeting people and taking photographs with his cellphone. He loved taking part in community festivities, singing and dancing, and keeping up with the neighborhood bochinche.
At the celebration of life, his family and friends spoke about his generosity, kindness, humor, wittiness, industriousness, and love for all things Puerto Rican. A collector of memorabilia, his family plans to donate some of his personal records and photographs to the archive of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture.
He is survived by his brother Adalberto, his niece Yvette and her partner Jeff, his niece Cindy and her husband Pablo and their children Mia and Alexander, his nephew Michael and his wife Diana, his nephew Alberto and his wife Marijahaira and their son Alex, Mia’s husband Adonijah, his longtime close friend Ricardo Jiménez, and the Nellie’s Restaurant family. Antonio will be missed.
