Jomar Pimentel saw his longtime friend Victor Malabayabas at a reunion of Philippine Merchant Marine Academy alumni three weeks ago. When Pimentel told his friend he had to leave, Malabayabas had a request.

“Can I get a hug?” Malabayabas asked.

“I hugged him not knowing that it will be the last,” Pimentel said.

Malabayabas, a beloved figure known for his volunteerism in Canton, died Monday at an area hospital of injuries suffered during an attack in the community early Saturday evening, according to Baltimore Police.

Witnesses said the 60-year-old victim was approached in the 600 block of South Kenwood Avenue by another male “asking for a tissue,” police said in a statement.

“When the victim went to give the male [the] tissue, the male grabbed the victim by the shirt and pushed him against a vehicle and then to the ground,” police said. “The suspect then removed the victim’s wallet before fleeing the location.”

Video from a neighbor’s front door camera viewed by The Baltimore Banner shows Malabayabas carrying bags inside, then standing at the top of his front steps when the robber approaches and calls up to him. Malabayabas steps inside and returns to hand something to the man. The man grabs his arm and yanks him down the steps, then throws Malabayabas on the street. He appears to hit his head and doesn’t get up. The robber runs away.

Police officers responding to a report of an unarmed robbery found Malabayabas being treated by medics, according to the police statement. Authorities said Malabayabas, a husband and father, died Monday. His death was declared a homicide on Tuesday, according to police, who were seeking the public’s help in identifying the assailant.

Victorino Malabayabas, a native of the Philippines, had moved to Baltimore around 2007 and worked until recently at Morgan Stanley, according to his LinkedIn profile and a 2013 feature story about him in the Catholic Review.

The article described him as an enthusiastic volunteer who regularly cleared brush, overgrown grass and debris from the perimeter of Patterson Lake. He also helped with a team that planted and cared for trees at the park and tended to the garden near the Pagoda.

“The number one thing he did is anything we needed,” Lesley Gardiner, volunteer coordinator for the Friends of Patterson Park, said Tuesday.

Malabayabas came to the United States in 1996, said Pimentel, who arrived the following year. They had attended military academy together in the Philippines, where Malabayabas was born and grew up.

Pimentel recalled that Malabayabas was his quarter commander, responsible for making sure that he and other younger cadets were studying, behaving and going to sleep on time.

“He acted like a father to all of us, because some days we have downs, and he would just cheer us up. He would just tell us that tomorrow, you will be fine,” Pimentel said. “That’s the way he is.”

Once, as a first-year cadet, Pimentel wanted to quit. The transition to military academy was hard, he said. It was Malabayabas, whom he calls “Vic,” who talked him out of it, telling him to think of his future.

“I came from a poor family,” Pimentel recalled Malabayabas telling him. “Now I’m here, and now I have a good future.”

Pimentel didn’t quit. “I can say that I [wouldn’t be] who I am now, if not for him,” Pimentel said.

Willie Ramos, who also attended the military academy with Malabayabas, likened him to a brother. “Whenever you need help, he’s always there to extend help,” Ramos said. “He will go the extra mile ... ”

Some nights at the academy, Ramos said, Malabayabas would spend extra time helping him with his schoolwork. He was always that type of person. In high school, Ramos said, Malabayabas taught the younger students how to play basketball.

“We as freshman, and he’s there as a senior helping us,” Ramos said. “He’s willing to spend time with you.”

After graduating from the academy, Malabayabas served as a Navy pilot in his native country for 11 years, according to the Catholic Review article. When his first wife, a nurse, landed a job in the United States, she petitioned for him and their two children to come to New York City. He moved there in 1996, and though the marriage ended, he stayed in the U.S., working as a dishwasher at a nursing home and also on a boat ferrying customers from Manhattan to Queens, the article said.

The boat’s captain was so impressed by Malabayabas’ professionalism and work ethic that he tried to help him get another job, leading ultimately to an offer from Morgan Stanley, Malabayabas said in 2013.

After starting as a temp at Morgan Stanley, he immersed himself in books about accounting, cash flow and the stock market, the article said. He eventually passed a test on brokerage operations.

“I believe there are people, who regardless of who you are, are willing to help,” Malabayabas told the Catholic Review. “There will come a time where I can do the same for somebody else.”

Throughout his life, Malabayabas, who remarried and listed three children on his Facebook page, continued to be a helper and a mentor.

Gardiner said that before the pandemic, Malabayabas would volunteer for the Friends of Patterson Park every other weekend.

Several times, she said, he’d pick one of the toughest jobs: cutting the weeds that grow over the lake’s boardwalk. And he’d stay even after the volunteer time was over. “I’m going to finish up, I’ll give you the tools later,” she recalled him saying.

Some Saturday mornings, he’d bring his kids to free tennis clinics, said FOPP Program Director Katie Long. And even when he came to the park as a parent and not a volunteer, she said, he always helped out.

“Tennis starts early on Saturday and sometimes it’s hard to get myself out of bed, but Victor would just be there with this glowing smile and he always just made everybody feel special,” Long said. “He was the most helpful, sincere, humble guy, and I’m just so sad that he’s gone.”

He volunteered at the Patterson Park Audubon Center, too, said Susie Creamer, the center’s director. For years, they could count on him to help out at their annual native plant sale. He’d help people find plants, work the cash register, mentor new volunteers and do anything else that needed to be done, Creamer said.

“He just was such a caretaker of the park and the community,” Long said. “He just instilled in everyone the importance of community and volunteerism, and was just always a smiling face no matter what was going on.”

Father Dennis Grumsey, a Catholic priest at St. Casimir Church, said Malabayabas grew a garden near the church’s residence. He would check on the vegetables when he attended morning Mass, the priest said, and would put any that were ripe out for other churchgoers to take.

A service is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at Kaczorowski Funeral Home in Dundalk. A funeral Mass will be held starting at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Casimir Church in Canton, according to an obituary on legacy.com

Baltimore Banner Reporter Tim Prudente contributed to this story.

cadence.quaranta@thebaltimorebanner.com