“You are her hero, you are Superman.”

On January 21st 2012 the world lost a hero. His name was Ernesto Custodio, and he was my good friend and mentor. Ernesto had a heart of gold, always in a good mood and always ready to go to work. He was one of the smartest men I have ever known. He was a broadcast engineer and at the top of his game when it came to high power radio transmitters. Ernesto was from the Dominican Republic and he built radio stations and transmitter sites in Florida, Puerto Rico, South America and the Caribbean. Ernesto’s real strength was improvisation, I used to call him the Dominican Macgyver. Working in poorer countries or stuck in a transmitter site on the top of a mountain, he learned to use what he had at his disposal. I worked with Ernesto over the past 13 years at Clear Channel Broadcasting and Univision Radio. I learned so much following him around and assisting him on radio studio buildouts and transmitter installations. Our boss Max would always joke that Ernesto was like a slave driver cracking his whip for me to climb up a ladder to run wires through the ceiling. He was a work horse, we even continued working on 911 when the rest of the world stopped to stare at the TV as planes crashed into the Trade Centers. “Dom, (his thick accent when he said Tom) it makes me too sad to watch this, lets keep on going on our project senor.” So why am I talking about this guy on a blog dedicated to super heroes? Because he was one. Ernesto’s personality and stature was like Ben Grimm the ever lovin blue eyed Thing from the Fantastic Four. His heart was just as pure, sure he had his faults…quite a lot of them. He could be very impulsive, greedy, wrathful and gluttonous. He even hooked up his fair share of pirate radio stations and illegal DirectTV systems. But he had a profound wisdom that helped him raise four exceptional children and solve almost any crisis. He was Mr. Fixit. The guy who came up with a solution for any problem. He was also very inventive, we would come up with ideas for all sorts of stuff on our long drives to our transmitter site locations. He was strong, I have seen Ernesto man handle transmitters weighing hundreds of pounds. He battled cancer for three years and refused to retire. Most people would have thrown in the towel after the regime of treatments he had to endure. Not Ernesto, he would show up the day after Chemotherapy and be lifting heavy equipment and installing it in the transmitter site. He was inspirational. Years ago when my Daughter Logan was around 4 years old I remember the words he told me. “You are her hero, you are Superman. Every thing you do she will emulate. She will look up to you. So you must always be at your very best.” He was right. I could not ask for a more responsible, intelligent, compassionate kid, Logan is now 15 and is a straight A Kid taking all honors classes and has won tons of awards for her academic achievements and athletic ability (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion). Wise words coming from the guy who at the time was installing my pirated DirectTV system. Even heroes have their flaws. Rest in Peace my friend, I miss you.


Republish from my blog Capes and Kids Feb 2nd, 2012 11:47pm