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The Annapolis native was heavily involved in a comedy sketch writing group in Brooklyn before meeting his wife and becoming a father to his four-year-old son, Iggy. During that time, he touched many people's funny bones in the best way imaginable.
"Fed was the funniest and smartest person in any room he was in," Federico's friend Dan said on a GoFundMe page for his family. "He had an astonishing ability to come up with just the smartest, goofiest jokes on a dime and deliver them like they were nothing."
Even in death, those who knew Federico are still smiling at the way he made them feel.
"He was the funniest person I ever met," Mindy said. "He would think of something that no one else would think of."
The 44-year-old was visiting his family in Annapolis over the Easter weekend when inclement weather caused a tree to crash into his parent's home, killing Garduño on impact.
The Medical Examiner's office in Baltimore ruled Federico's death as accidental and caused by multiple injuries, Report Annapolis News reports. Now, his family is honoring Garduño's legacy.
"Becoming parents [to Iggy] got us to do more," Mindy added. "He was a really amazing dad who wasn't sure that he was up for the job, but he was very involved."
"He loved being a dad more than anything in the world, and he was such an exceptional one," Dan wrote. "It’s impossible to overstate how loving and caring and fun he was with his son."
Federico used to take Iggy on hikes, go on bike rides and loved almost anything involving nature. Federico also taught at The Math & Science Exploratory School Public School 447 in Brooklyn.
Mindy said her husband was inspired to go into teaching to set an example of what educators should be: "a good listener, patient and sunny."
"I've been in shock since learning of Fed Garduño's death earlier this week," one Facebook user wrote. "Fed was like no one else: kind, reserved, with a dark, oddball sense of humor and an unparalleled dry delivery. I could listen to him play a Maryland dirtbag for hours."
Out of respect to Federico's love of nature, Mindy said his family went to Calvert Cliffs State Park in southern Maryland to honor him.
She said they might also plan a trivia night in her husband's honor because Federico was the biggest "asset to any trivia team."
On top of everything, Mindy says Federico's legacy will mostly live through their son as Iggy is starting to develop the same sense of humor as his dad.
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