TAMPA — At 6-foot-6, Jeff Houck was too tall to sit comfortably in the antique barber chair at Cigar City Barbershop, located at the time inside the second floor of Lion's Den Cigar Lounge on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City.

The shop had a larger barber chair, but another customer already was sitting there.

So shop owner Johnny Lopera grabbed a regular chair and an extension cord and set up a makeshift haircut station on the roof patio.

"It gives me chills to think about it," said Houck, a three-year customer of Cigar City Barbershop, now in its own storefront at 1501 E Ninth Ave.

"It was generous and thoughtful. He didn't have to do that. But he did."

Mr. Lopera, 33, of Seminole Heights, known for his thick beard, sleepy eyes and easygoing personality, died on Saturday when his motorcycle collided with a car.

He leaves behind a pregnant wife, Leah Lopera, and a 1-year-old daughter, Cambria Rose Lopera.

"I don't know anyone who ever met Johnny who didn't love Johnny," said his longtime friend Roberto Torres. "When it came to life, he was a simple man who was always receptive to other people."

The Tampa Police Department said Lopera was driving his motorcycle north on Nebraska Avenue at 8:35 a.m. when 60-year-old Richard Hiltz, headed south on Nebraska in a Chevrolet Malibu, turned in front of him at Martin Luther King Blvd. The motorcycle struck the right side of the car.

Lopera, who was not wearing a helmet, died at the scene. An investigation is under way.

Friend Torres said Lopera was born in Colombia and raised in Chicago before moving to Tampa at 12.

His late father Saul Lopera ran a barbershop in Brandon "and that is where his passion for barbering came from," Torres said.

Lopera opened his first barber shop in 2012, inside CoworkTampa — an old West Tampa cigar factory converted into office space. He cut hair by day. At night he worked as a server at BRIO Tuscan Grille in International Plaza.

"He was such a hard worker," Torres said. "He had a dream he wanted to fulfill."

A year-and-a-half later, Torres said, Lopera took the plunge and went into business for himself full time when he rented space inside Lion's Den Cigar Lounge.

"Ybor was always where he wanted to be," said Torres, who owns the Blind Tiger Cafe on Seventh Avenue. "He wanted that interaction with people that being there provides."

His personality as much as his talent as a barber is what grew Lopera's business, Torres said.

"He could talk for hours or listen for hours. He was a genuine person. He was what barbers are supposed to look like, what a barber is supposed to feel like."

Lopera also was known to help out homeless people in Ybor City if he thought their hair or beards needed a trim.

"He never charged them," said customer Houck, public relations manager for the Columbia Restaurant Group in Ybor City. "He invited them in and took care of them. Johnny was authentic Ybor."

Lopera moved to his storefront location in September. Torres hopes to keep Cigar City Barbershop open and is looking for barbers to rent chairs.

"He worked so hard for this thing. He followed his passion and dream. For it to end like this, it's just not right."

Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com. Follow @PGuzzoTimes.