Jose Murillo

June 19, 1940 – Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Jose Murillo passed away from heart failure with his devoted wife Gloria at his side. Jose and Gloria were married for 60 years and raised three children in a household filled with fun experiences, lots of garage tinkering and a hard work ethic.

Jose was born in Quintana de la Serena, Extremadura, Spain where his strong family values and love of the outdoors were formed. The oldest of five siblings, Jose was the ribbon which would keep everyone tied. He loved his sisters Santiaga, Josefa and Mari and his brother Pascual very much. They moved to Madrid when he was a teenager where he began work as an apprentice painter.

Jose came to Canada in 1965 with his brother Pascual. Every year after, they would have lunch together on that day to celebrate their immigration. Jose quickly found work in Toronto and soon invited Gloria to join him. She arrived on a snowy November day and toured the downtown area with highly inappropriate footwear for the conditions.

Jose and Gloria soon welcomed a son, Jose (Joe) and set up in east-Toronto. Jose also started his business - Tip Top Auto Collision - on Danforth Avenue which is still family run by Joe to this day. Five years later they would welcome their second son, Michael, and would purchase their first home in East York.

During these early years, Jose worked long days with few, if any, days off. But when he did have time off, he would spend it with his family camping, fishing, hunting, and finally, at their property outside of Orillia, Ontario.

The property would feature the affectionately known Gypsy Wagon, a bus converted into a camper, and Jose would go on to build the family cottage. Jose loved the cottage, and ensured he raised his family both in Toronto and on the north shore of Lake Simcoe.

In 1980, the family moved to a home in Highland Creek, Scarborough and welcomed their last child Diana.

The family quickly fell into a routine of hard work during the week and fun up north on the weekend. Jose and the family would also travel back to Spain regularly to visit their family.

Fast forward many years and Joe would marry Liane and welcome Zachary and Christopher, Mike would bring Inez, Noelia (Raz) and Benicio into the family, and Diana would marry Leo and have Jose-Manuel (Manolo) and Ana-Maria.

Jose’s absolute favorite thing was to have his whole family together at the cottage with far too much food for the number of people.

His family will miss his wise advice, his Spanish sayings, repeating jokes, his garage filled with tools which he used to fix and build everything, and his meticulously maintained lawn. We love you papa. We’ll miss you abuelo.

A private memorial is being planned for family and friends.