UpdatedFri, May 14, 2021 at 11:09 pm ET Replies(2) Ted Nilsson with his four boys, Jared, Luke, Ted and Christian. (Courtesy Nilsson family.) EAST MORICHES, NY — Four sons have joined hearts and voices to pay tribute to their father, a respiratory therapist who delayed retirement to help fight the coronavirus battle — only to later lose his life to COVID-19. Their words and memories are a veritable love letter, speaking to the deep bonds he forged with all four — and with their mother, whom he cared for with infinite tenderness after she was diagnosed with dementia. According to his obituary, Theodore "Ted" Louis Nilsson, who died on March 6 at 66, was born in Queens and grew up in Farmingdale; graduated from St. John's University in 1977 and studied to become a respiratory therapist at Stony Brook University. He met the love of his life Janine while both were working at Southside Hospital; they were married in 1984. Nilsson became the director of respiratory care at Mather Hospital in 2002, a position he held until his retirement in 2020.