Sergio T. Rivera

About

City University of New York University of New Hampshire

Sergio Rivera Obituary

Sergio T. Rivera, accomplished musician and urban planner went to his final resting place on Monday, September 25, 2017 from complications related to cancer. He was 64 years old.

Sergio was born in Brooklyn, NY, and raised by his loving grandmother, Luisa Rivera. He served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1976 and was stationed in Germany. Upon his return, he became a vital part of the city's rich Afro Caribbean music scene. Sergio was an extraordinary yet humble musician, composer, and band director. His fellow musicians describe him as a top pianist and a natural born band leader. He was the director, pianist, composer, and arranger of Grupo Caribe, a band that recorded 4 full length albums and toured France three times. Sergio also recorded with the best Latin bands in the business, and performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, the Plaza Hotel, and Waldorf Astoria.

Sergio was also a nurturing mentor to budding musicians and taught music theory to youth. He performed with the Salsa Festival Group, providing educational concerts at schools throughout New York State and was a member of the Boys Harbor Performing Arts Big Band for over 25 years. In 2016, he produced and directed the public access television program Afro Caribbean Music Perspectives on MNN. That same year, he was presented with the first El Ritmo de la Ciudad award by Teamsters local 237 in honor of his renowned musical accomplishments.

Sergio was also a scholar and city planner. He earned a Masters of City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute, a Masters of Community Economic Development from the University of New Hampshire-Manchester, and a BA in Public Administration from John Jay College (CUNY). For 35 years, he developed and managed affordable housing and community based healthcare centers, working in the communities of Bedford Stuyvesant, Red Hook, the Lower East Side, Spanish Harlem, and Washington Heights.

Sergio was also an avid reader and knowledge seeker. The most devoted of friends, he enjoyed introducing people in his life to each other and supporting them in their personal and professional lives. Sergio inspired people to follow their dreams and will be remembered as a compassionate mentor.

He was a loving father and role model to his three children, Marcus and Celeste born to Cruz Rivera, Scottie born to Eleanor Miller, and two step children Gladys and Rene Soto. Sergio lived a life full of travel and adventure with his wife and love of 24 years, Gladys Rivera. Together with Gladys, he helped raise 6 beautiful grandchildren, Maxmillion, Austin, Daniel, Isaiah, Jayden and Lola, as well as his special grand-dog Gia. Although his father, Sergio Rivera Jr., preceded him in passing, Sergio is survived by his mother Lorraine DeFino; his loving sisters Nancy, Gigi, Marie, and Celina; brothers Ernie, Rick, and Julian; his aunt Irma (Nena); uncle Thomas, Aida, and Tommy; his mother-in-law Lola Acevedo Rivera; and a host of nieces, nephews and friends. He will always be in our hearts.

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Published by New York Times from Oct. 6 to Oct. 7, 2017.

Memories and Condolences
for Sergio Rivera

5 Entries

Eleanor Miller

November 8, 2017

Sergio, I feel like a traitor. Staring at that happy picture of you so many years ago, smiling out from your keyboard at the photographer. At a gig. Happy to be playing after a long hard day's work at your day job. It's how we all remember you. Now you're in the New York Times
instead of playing a gig at .. anywhere else!
You didn't plan it this way! And you're such a planner! You had so much to do, like you always did. For the rest of your life.

How could this be? This bubbly little boy full of giggles and mischief, the apple of his grandmother's eye. Always fashioning what he wanted to do. Or dreamed of doing. And heading right out the door, straight after it!
Orquesta Heavy! You were so proud of your first band! Eleven years old and you were playing, everyone knew you as a boy,
in the clubs around your neighborhood! Learning, learning, learning. Loving music. Your Uncle Tommy showing you the ropes
at home on the guitar. Your first teacher.

I'm a traitor. I'm still living on earth. And you're not. You're not getting to do all that
stuff you wanted to do. For ever. Peace be with you, Sergio.

We miss you so terribly much. My own far-distant consciousness that you were always around,' doing what you were doing, having fun with Gladys and with all your network of friends and other musicians, struggling with demands on your latest day job, loving Scottie and Marcus and Celeste and all of their children and all of Gladys' family. Sharing yourself with everybody else. All the other children and grownups. Playing with them. Helping them all to resolve their problems, to move on. Your buddies don't refer to you as, not merely a friend but a mentor for nothing. Marta owns her apartment in her building now. Because of her and her fellow tenants' sweat equity. And because of your incredibly painstaking pulling all the strings.' So many others have achieved goals they were faltering over because of your quiet way you let them talk to you about it all. Your musician's innate sense of structure and form. How you shaped your sentences, your talking to radio interviewers who were asking you to tell the amazingly multi-layered story of the history and development of New York salsa bands. Your composition of the incredibly haunting, beautiful horn melody for your loving grandmother, Luisa. Who loved us all.

Gia misses you. Gladys has to deal with a broken heart. All the guys you've played with miss you. We all miss you. All those who were closest to you, all those who never met you and all those who grew up with you miss you. Your quiet respect for humanity. Your music. Luisa. Nena. The young, the old. We're so sad. We've lost your laughing self, your spirit, your quiet understanding. And your music. It lives on only in recording. And in our years of memories. In all your musician compadres who loved you and who play on. And in the next time we put in one of your meticulously produced CD's. Driving down a beautiful New Mexico road in our tears. For the loss of it all.

Sergio with baby Scottie.

October 29, 2017

Sergio with baby Scottie.

October 29, 2017

Sergio playing with his youngest son, Scottie.

October 29, 2017

At our wedding in May 2010.

Amy Coplen

October 29, 2017

Sergio, my suegro, was such a kind and loving father who inspired the love of my life to follow his passions. Scottie and I had the opportunity to go on countless adventures with Sergio in Puerto Rico, New York, Albuquerque, and Portland, where he was able to help us open the pizza parlor and share in our hard work. He was so proud of Scottie. My favorite memories are from our long drives to PA when Scottie would be sleeping in my lap and I had the chance to ask Sergio about his life. He told me about his childhood in Brooklyn, raised by his grandmother, and his time spent in Puerto Rico and Germany while he was in the army. He faced more obstacles in his life than anyone else I know, but he also lived the fullest life of anyone I know, especially in the months after he was diagnosed with cancer. In that time, he played countless gigs. He was an incredible musician, composer, arranger, and band leader who was integral to New York's Salsa scene. He also produced and directed a public access TV program 'Afro Caribbean Music Perspectives.' As I did research to write his obituary I learned so much about his life. What strikes me most is how many incredibly close relationships he cultivated with people from all walks of life.

Thank you to Gladys Rivera, the love of his life, for loving Sergio so deeply. Sergio and Gladys taught Scottie and I how to be true partners in life. For that, I am eternally grateful.

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