These are the faces of some of the US coronavirus victims – CNN

Now, we're learning who some of them were, what they did and what they were passionate about.

Those lost to the coronavirus include a former New York fire marshal who sprang into action on 9/11, a mother to six who was battling breast cancer, and four members of a New Jersey family.

Here are some of their stories.

A retired New York fire marshal

And yet, after a career of service, Knox had more to give. He had been retired for two years on September 11, 2001, but he sprang into action that day to help his country and his community.

"He took his vehicle and all the gear that he still had remaining from his time with the FDNY and drove down to The Battery and made the trek from there all the way to Ground Zero," his son, Zachary Knox, told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "And he was there for several weeks afterward."

Knox was still going to the gym as of a few weeks ago. "He was a very vibrant 84-year-old," his son said. "I think people decades younger than him had trouble keeping up."

Zachary wants his father to be remembered as someone who was "always very committed to being ... just a man full of integrity."

"He lived and died by his word," Zachary said. "That's the way he always was, and people loved him for it."

Knox is survived by his wife, four children and six grandchildren.

Four members of one family

"It's absolutely surreal," Elizabeth Fusco told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "They were the roots of our lives ... It's like the second we start to grieve about one, the phone rings and there's another person gone, taken from us forever."

Days later, on Wednesday, Elizabeth's brother Carmine Fusco died, just hours before their mother and the family matriarch, 73-year-old Grace Fusco, died, too.

And another brother, Vincent Fusco Jr., passed away on Thursday.

Elizabeth was on the phone Wednesday for her mother's final moments. While on a call with the hospital, she heard her mother coding in the background, she said, and doctors' frantic attempts to save her.

"I listened to those doctors and those machines code my mother on the phone when she passed," Elizabeth said. "I'll never get over that."

Grace Fusco had 11 children and 27 grandchildren.

Three other relatives are hospitalized in New Jersey, and 19 other family members have been tested and are waiting on the results, according to Roseann Paradiso Fodera, Grace's cousin and an attorney representing the family. Children, parents and grandchildren have been quarantined.

"This is an unbearable tragedy for the family," Paradiso Fodera said.

A single mother and breast cancer survivor

Sundee Rutter, a 42-year-old mother of six, died on March 16 in Everett, Washington, after contracting the coronavirus, her older sister Shawnna Olsen told CNN.

"My sister was amazing," Olsen said. "She was the first to lend a helping hand to anyone."

Rutter had been battling breast cancer and was in remission when she fell ill, Olsen said. She was taken to Providence Hospital in Everett, where she died.

Olsen called her baby sister a "hero" who always put her children -- ages 13 to 24 -- first. Rutter had been a single mother since the death of her husband in 2012, Olsen said.

Per his "mother's wishes," Rutter's oldest son will become the legal guardian of his younger siblings, Olsen told CNN.

"They are well loved by family, community and complete strangers," Olsen said of the children.

An NBC News staffer

Edgeworth recently worked in the equipment room, Lack said, but before that, he spent most of his 25 years at NBC News as an audio technician.

"Many of you were fortunate enough to work with Larry over the years," Lack said, "so you know that he was the guy you wanted by your side no matter where you were."

That sentiment was echoed by Roxanne Garcia, CNN's senior director of newsgathering, who worked with Edgeworth for 17 years at NBC.

"He was a really big man with a really big heart," Garcia said, adding, "He had a great laugh and a great smile."

Edgeworth spent countless months covering stories far from home, in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, Garcia said.

"He always made you feel like there was someone there who cared about you," she said, "and there was someone who cared about the story we were telling."

Edgeworth leaves behind a wife and two sons, Lack's memo said.

A retired magician

Richard Curren, a father of two, fell ill last week and died just a few days later.

He had been living at an assisted living facility in Florida with his wife of more than five decades.

Their son, Eric Curren, told CNN that the couple met in Chicago. They raised their family there before retiring to Florida about a decade ago.

Curren had worked in sales until he decided he wanted to be a professional magician, his son said. Sheila was his assistant.

He was also passionate about water sports and competitive swimming.

His family said he was hospitalized with respiratory issues considered routine, but he died this week. Doctors told the family his death was due to complications from coronavirus.

"I think the family is in shock because he always pulled through," the Curren's daughter, Tracie Curren, told WPLG.

As a magician, Curren loved sharing magic tricks with children.

"No matter how many joint replacement surgeries he endured, he still couldn't resist a chance to get down on the carpet to play with a toddler," his son wrote on Facebook.

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These are the faces of some of the US coronavirus victims - CNN