Engineer who died eating fish tank cleaner thinking it was Trump’s coronavirus ‘cure’ remembered as ‘kind and genuine’
AN engineer who died from drinking fish tank cleaner after mistakenly thinking it was a coronavirus cure has been remembered as a "kind" and "intelligent" man.
Gary Lenius and his wife Wanda, both in their 60s, drank chloroquine phosphate last month after confusing it for hydroxychloroquine, the drug previously touted by President Donald Trump as a COVID-19 killer.
Gary died on March 22, while Wanda was left in critical condition after ingesting the toxic chemical.
Friends of the 68-year-old Arizona resident memorialized him as an "genuine", "patient" and "sincere" human.
"Every now and then you meet somebody that is kind, genuine, patient, intelligent, helpful, sincere, and friendly, and you know right away you like this guy," one pal told the Washington Free Beacon Friday.
Gary spent more than 30 years working as a senior engineer at John Deere in Iowa.
Wanda said her late husband was "beloved by everybody" in an interview with the Free Beacon last month.
Those who knew Gary knew of his passion for building and flying model aircrafts.
He was a member of the Arizona Model Airplane flyers club in Mesa, Arizona and spent his days testing his planes at the local air park, according to club executive John Mangino.
"A lot of people say we have cliques," Mangino said.
"I was at one end of the field, he was at the other end."
Wanda previously told NBC News she and Gary drank the deadly chemical because they were worried they were getting sick.
The couple had been self-isolating before each taking a teaspoon of the toxin with soda.
"We saw his [Trump's] press conference," Wanda said.
"It was on a lot, actually. Trump kept saying it was pretty much a cure."
In late March, the president touted hydroxychloquine as a cure for the coronavirus.
The drug had previously been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as an anti-malaria treatment.
However, experts have warned there's no proof that the medicine kills the coronavirus.
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Wanda said kept chloroquine phosphate in the house because she had koi fish.
She warned others eager to heed Trump's advice to think twice before taking matters into their own hands.
"Don't believe anything that the president says and his people, be so careful," Wanda said.
"Call your doctor."