'He was just a happy person': Lehigh Acres father, entrepreneur dies of COVID-19

George Pena was a Lehigh Acres father with a million-dollar smile. He loved, more than anything, spending time with his family.   

“Everybody says the same thing about George and it’s that he was just a happy person,” said the man’s sister Ana Pena. “He always told me everybody deserves a fair chance. He was very loved and respected in the community.”  

George Pena, who raised three sons with his wife, Marie Pena, died of COVID-19 on Aug. 18. He was 50 and did not have any other major health issues when he contracted the novel coronavirus in late July.  

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In Lee County, 435 people have died of COVID-19 while statewide the novel coronavirus has killed 11,501 people, according to the Florida Department of Health.  

George Pena lived in Lehigh Acres since 2003. He helped raise his wife’s first son and they had two more, who are now in their teens.  

"He was a loving father, very attentive to his children,” Marie Pena said. “He helped with their homework and always said yes to those kids. He gave them everything. He worked hard to give us everything.” 

George Pena was an entrepreneur and owned a company called George's Delivery Services & Produce. He worked in produce delivery in New York, then moved to Florida and began rearranging routes at his new jobs to make them more efficient.  

He realized he had the skills and experience to begin his own business and delivered produce all over Southwest Florida.  

“He was very respected by his customers and was very well known,” Ana Pena said. “He was just someone who never said no to helping anyone.” 

Even when he was busy running his own business, George Pena made time for family and was a loving brother, Ana Pena said.  

“He always took care of us and he was the oldest,” Ana Pena said. “He always did everything to make us happy. He was given a lot of responsibility growing up. He was a loving brother and a good son.”  

George Pena had two brothers and one sister. He instilled good values in his kids and taught them to work hard for everything, his wife said.  

“I could not have asked for anything more from him,” Marie Pena said. “In the 25 years we've been together, George gave it all to me. I know he gave it all to me in the best possible way and I could not have asked for anything else.” 

To make a difficult time even more difficult, both of George Pena’s parents who also live in Lehigh Acres were hospitalized with COVID-19 in recent weeks.

Marie Pena hopes others use caution during the ongoing pandemic.  

"Be more careful,” Marie Pena said. “You just never know. This is something I never would have thought could happen to my husband. This is the kind of guy that this is just not supposed to happen to. It just wasn't supposed to happen to him."  

A GoFundMe page has been set up to support the family in the wake of George Pena’s death.