A young Hector Fernandez and his wife Pilar. (FACEBOOK PHOTO)
Lawyer Hector Fernandez, one of Cebu’s prominent legal practitioners, passed away tonight after a long battle with cancer. He was 79.
Fernandez died in his sleep at around 6 p.m. tonight, more than three months after he was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer.
Fernandez is survived by his children – Vicente, also a lawyer; Connie, the Visayas bureau chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and former editor in chief of Cebu Daily News; and Gemmalyn – and grandchildren Vicente III, Maria Victoria, Joaquin Niccolo, Antonietta, Denise Concepcion, Daniell Claire, Reynaldo IV and Johannes Paulus.
Fernandez, who practiced law in Cebu for over 40 years, worked most of his life handling pro bono cases “because he believed everyone is entitled to a good defense whether he is rich or poor”and that “a lawyer’s profession should be a vocation and not a business,” said his daughter Connie.
“After several months of struggle, Papa finally succumbed to the big C. At least now, the pain is gone. Just say hello to Mama and tell her we missed her so much… I will see you in God’s time..,” said Vicente in a post on his Facebook page.
His remains now lies in state at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills, Cebu City.
The interment will be at the Cebu South Memorial Gardens, where he will join in the final resting place of his wife, Pilar, who died on May 22, 2008. The interment date is still to be announced.
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