This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

Raymond Copeland was so proud of his job with the New York City Department of Sanitation that he kept a dollar-store trinket in his car with the word “strongest,” a reference to the nickname for his department that goes along with New York’s Finest (police officers) and New York’s Bravest (firefighters).

For Mr. Copeland, who raised three girls as a single father after their mother died, the job offered economic security. Once his children grew up, he was able to travel to Caribbean vacation spots, and planned to buy a house with his fiancée, Tameka Robinson, a fellow sanitation worker.

“Ray was living his best life the last couple of years,” said Mike Arroyo, who knew Mr. Copeland since 1988, when they were teenagers in the South Bronx who bonded over their mutual love of hip-hop.