Ruben Perez

Ruben Perez was born on August 04, 1965, to Maria and Ramon Perez in Alma, Michigan at Gratiot Community Hospital. On Maria’s way to the emergency room, she took a wrong turn and ended up in the hospital kitchen. Ruben Perez was born in that very kitchen of Gratiot Community Hospital. He was the third born and became very protective of his family. He had two older sisters as well as three younger sisters and five younger brothers. He was a highly active person, even as a child. In his youth he loved wrestling with his brothers, riding his bike, working hard and playing with the dog. Ever since he was young, he loved his family dearly and would do anything he could for them. He always worked hard since he was a young teen to help support his family. He was the oldest boy and always took care, helped his brothers, leaving them with skills for life. He loved to help people.

He lived most of his life in Portland, Oregon and would frequently travel to Phoenix, Arizona where he met the love of his life in 1983, Maria Rita Perez. After three years of getting to know one another, he decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona in 1986 to be closer to Maria. The following year they married each other, on July 01, 1987, and had five children, Ruben James Perez Jr., the oldest. Ricardo Perez the second oldest, followed by Dina Perez the first-born girl. Dina was followed by Keila Perez who is followed by the youngest Pricila Isabela Perez. Ruben’s love for his entire family, brothers, sisters, mother and father, as well as his children and wife never faded but instead grew to new heights. His work ethic seemed to grow with his love as he started his own very successful landscaping business. Starting out he would easily scale the tallest of palm trees, even though he was well over two hundred pounds. Later in his career he moved on to landscape installations, which he did for the remainder of his years. He would work hard and also play hard and loved to be traveling on his time off. He loved spending his holidays with his family or his wife's family and would always find a way to make it to the beech which he loved to visit whenever he was in California.

Ruben and Maria Perez were married for 34 great years, and he was the best dad anyone could ask for. He went above and beyond for his wife and his children whom he loved unconditionally until the day he died. There was nothing that he would not do for the betterment of his entire family and always made friends no matter what neighborhood he was in. Ruben Perez was a very lovable person and people just liked to talk to him and be around him because of his endearing soul. He always motivated everyone to start their own business and would try and help them if he could.

Sadly, Ruben Perez died at 56 years of age, sixteen days after his birthday due to the covid-19 virus. He died August 20, 2021, at 3:45 p.m. at Harbor UCLA medical center. He is survived by his wife, sons and daughters, as well as mother, brothers and sisters. He will always be loved and missed dearly by his family; may God rest his soul.