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A GoFundMe campaign for the family had raised nearly $50,000 in less than 24 hours.
"My nephew was full of life and one of the most selfless and loyal people in the world," said his aunt, Karen Gillen, who organized the fundraiser.
Monday's fire broke out in Gonzalez's second-floor bedroom in the rear of the two-family Westminster Place home shortly before 6 a.m., possibly from an incense candle, firefighters said.
It quickly went to two alarms.
Several others made it out safely, then were pushed back by flames when they went to look for Gonzalez, who lived there with his mother, her fiancé and his daughter.
Family members, neighbors and friends later huddled together, hoping against hope, as the blaze was extinguished.
That hope was doused, as well, when a firefighter found Gonzalez's body in the rubble of his bedroom after part of the roof collapsed.
Gonzalez was "one of the real ones," said Jerry Whittaker of Hackensack, "always down to help someone out and just a genuine soul."
"Saw a tow truck turn a corner one day a couple months ago and the dude was bumping some good music," Vincent Bontempo of Garfield wrote. "I thought to myself, 'Good to see somebody enjoying what they do.'
"Ironically, that truck slowed down and the driver yelled out 'Yo, Vin' with that same happy-ass smile on his face he always had."
Bontempo called Gonzalez "a good, genuine, happy dude. Nothing but love whenever I saw [him]."
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TO DONATE: Fundraiser For Gianina (GoFundMe)
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