Monserrate Ortiz

Monserrate Ortiz, 103, of Paterson, New Jersey, passed away surrounded by family on March 10, 2026. Born Monserrate Pagan on September 8, 1922, in Guayama, Puerto Rico, to parents Ramona Torres Pagan and Paolino Pagan, she spent her early years in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico. At the age of 25, she married Army veteran Pedro Ortiz Santos on February 14, 1948. The couple began their family in Puerto Rico before moving to New Jersey in 1954, where they raised their twelve children together.

Monserrate worked in the manufacturing sector for various companies and retired in 1984 from Buhl Inc. in Hawthorne, New Jersey. A devoted wife, mother, and woman of deep faith, she served as the loving matriarch of the Ortiz family for decades.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years, Pedro Ortiz Santos; her eldest son, Pedro Ortiz II; and her siblings Iris Rivera (Pagan), Rosa Colon (Pagan), Eduardo Pagan, Victor Pagan, Luz Maria Pagan, Susana Miranda, Priscilla Pagan, and Dalila Perez.

Monserrate is survived by her sisters Isabel Pagan and Maria S. Pagan; her sons Javier Ortiz and wife Janet Ortiz, Eduardo Ortiz, Rafael Ortiz, and Miguel Ortiz and wife Corazon Ortiz; her seven daughters Maria Ortiz, Nelida Ortiz, Helen Ortiz, Isabel Ortiz, Lourdes Rios (Ortiz) and husband Luis Rios, Rosa Cuevas (Ortiz), and Carmen Ortiz; and her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, cousins, nieces, and nephews. Her memory will live on in the hearts of all those who knew and loved her.