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A Livermore man who died while operating a forklift Monday afternoon at a construction site in Lafayette worked for a landscaping supply company and served as a local church pastor.
The worker, identified by the Contra Costa County coroner’s office as 35-year-old Edwin Gomez-Zarate, was an employee at SiteOne Landscape Supply, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Cal/OSHA officials said Gomez-Zarate was driving a forklift to load and unload paver stones when he somehow became trapped in or by something. No other details were immediately released by the agency.
Gomez-Zarate worked out of SiteOne’s Livermore location and had been an employee there for nearly a year, according to manager Francisco Rios.
“He was a very helpful person,” Rios said. “He was always very friendly, he never had a negative attitude since I met him.”
Gomez-Zarate had been working on a residential project to install a driveway, Rios said.
He said the company is waiting for the final report from Cal/OSHA to find out what happened and said the project is on hold pending the investigation.
A GoFundMe page has been created on behalf of Gomez-Zarate’s wife Mayra Gomez to help the family with funeral costs.
According to the page, the couple served as pastors to the local Hispanic community via the Comunidad Cristiana Jesucristo es la Respuesta.
“A tragic accident took the life of my beloved husband Edwin suddenly on Monday,” Mayra wrote in a message on the GoFundMe page. “I could never describe the love we shared. He was a lover of God, His precious word and served Him with all his heart and strength.”
“He was loved by many and will be missed greatly,” she wrote. “His legacy will continue, his story has not finished.”
The page had raised nearly $1,500 as of Wednesday afternoon.