Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31, was loved immensely by his large family and many friends.
The Venezuela native, who went by Simon Carrillo, was living in Kissimmee before he was killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting last June.
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Friends described Carrillo as someone who was full of energy and had a special light about him. His family cherished him.
His sister, Ariani Carrillo, shared a picture of the two on Facebook and said, “My everything.” You could see the love the siblings shared for one another on their faces, a friend wrote under the photo.
Others who knew Carrillo left comments on pictures of him that were shared on Facebook after his death.
“Always with that smile,” a friend wrote on a picture that Carrillo’s brother shared of him.
Another comment said Carrillo was unlike any other friend.
“Why so beautiful?” Ashley Candelaria wrote in a picture comment. “A friend like you is not given twice in life.”
Carrillo was a manager at McDonald’s and adored by his co-workers, according to The Associated Press.
His co-workers set up a GoFundMe page for Carrillo and his partner, Oscar Aracena-Montero, who also was killed in the June 12, 2016, shooting.
Co-workers started the fundraiser to give money to the couples families and said their “work family” was shocked and saddened about the senseless mass shooting.
“Loved these guys so much. They made me feel so welcomed and I will never forget their amazing senses of humor and beautiful smiles,” a friend said.
One coworker told the Orlando Sentinel that Carrillo never forgot anyone’s birthday and would make a point to celebrate them by bringing cakes to work for them.
She also spoke about his love for traveling and said he and Aracena-Montero had just returned from a trip to Niagara Falls together.
Colleagues told the Sentinel that Carrillo was a leader who paid attention to detail and strove to be the best.
“He had to be the best, that was his thing. 'I cook the best, I clean the best, I work the best,'” co-worker Ivonne Irizarry said.
Carrillo was preceded in death by his father, Simon Carrillo. He is survived by his mother, Digna Fernandez de Carrillo; three sisters, Aileen Carillo Fernandez, of Kissimmee, and Ariani and Adriana Carrillo, of Venezuela; and two brothers, Gustavo Cuevas, of Orlando, and Simon Francisco Carrillo, of Venezuela.