Harvard man killed in crash was ‘great dad,’ had 3rd child on way: He ‘would be there for us’

A Harvard man who died in a crash last week was remembered as a kind person, great father and loving partner.

Omar Escobar’s partner, Alma Aguilar, said Escobar would often bring her a rose and write her love letters. He went with her to church, and then they would go for ice cream.

“He was very romantic and old-fashioned,” Aguilar said, speaking in Spanish. “I mean, what guys do that anymore?”

The couple, from the same city of Toluca, Mexico, starting as friends they began dating. She was 20 and he was 23.

Aguilar said Escobar was a “great dad.” The couple has two daughters, and Aguilar is expecting their third child.

Escobar encouraged independence in their 9-year-old daughter, Emily Quetzaly. Aguilar said that was important to him that she someday be an independent woman.

He used to play with the couple’s other daughter, Evelyn Itzel, who is seven months old and is just starting to crawl.

”We had barely started to get to know her," Aguilar said.

Anayeli Rojas, Escobar’s niece, said her uncle lived with her family for many years and took care of her and her siblings. Escobar was like a second father and “would be there for us,” Rojas said.

He always put his wife and daughter first and was an attentive host, Rojas said. Family from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, would gather at his house and he liked to grill and prepare food like tacos and carne asada.

Escobar was the “life of the party,” she said, making sure everyone was included, and he liked to listen to music and “would sing any song.”

Escobar also enjoyed soccer, playing in a recreational league in Woodstock and watching the Mexican national team, Rojas said. She said her uncle was hardworking, and the crash happened while he was going to work.

She said Escobar would get his partner and daughters flowers on Valentine’s Day so they could feel loved and seen. He was excited to welcome his next child, for whom the family is planning a gender reveal July 10. Aguilar said she plans to go back to work soon, but her family is encouraging her to prioritize her pregnancy.

Rojas is organizing a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family, which had gotten 71% of its $15,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.

“Omar was a kind, hardworking man who deeply loved his family. He was their protector, their provider, and their world. Now, we are asking the community to come together and support his wife and children in this moment of heartbreak,” the fundraiser said.

Escobar was driving in the 19700 block of Hebron Road near Harvard the morning of June 24, when his car rolled over into a field.

It was the third fatal traffic collision in a 14-hour timeframe. The crashes prompted McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman to urge drivers to drive more cautiously and report impaired and reckless drivers.