Jose Morón, Whose Metal Creations Adorned Chicago, Dies at 54

This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

When Jose Morón, known as Fredo, first came to the United States from Mexico at 18, the only word he knew in English was “cheeseburger,” and he ate a lot of them. He was working construction jobs in Texas and would escape the relentless heat by going to restaurants and giving the same order, day after day.

His job was tiring, the pay meager and the climate brutal. Mr. Morón (more-OWN) had larger ambitions.

Decades later, swaths of upscale neighborhoods and low-income housing across Chicago display iron gates, metal stairwells and window bars installed by Mr. Morón and the employees of the company he founded, New Town Iron Works.