EnTec Professor Passes Away After Motorcycle Accident

Javier Coto used humor to ease his way into Margarita Doubinina’s heart. 

The couple met at an improv club in Coral Gables thirteen years ago. Three years later they were married and would eventually have two children—Bodhi and Gia Bella. 

“He had a good heart,” said Margarita, who was married to Coto for nearly a decade. “That’s the first thing I felt.”

Now Margarita is struggling with his loss.

Coto, a beloved technology professor at Homestead Campus, passed away on Aug. 5 after a motorcycle accident on US 1 in Florida City. 

To honor his memory, the School of Engineering and Technology at Miami Dade College created a scholarship in his name. It’s open to students taking tech courses this fall including classes in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics and app development.

“He represented what we believe in terms of Miami Dade College,” said Manny Perez, the dean of the School of Engineering, Technology and Design. “We really wanted to create a legacy for him in a way that we would recognize everything he did.”

Work Hard
Coto was born in Miami in March of 1981.

For the past eight years, the 41-year-old taught computer science, information technology and business courses at Homestead Campus. He gained a reputation for being dedicated to his students and selflessness.

“He was a consummate professional,” said Lynne Arguelles, the chairperson of the School of Business, Engineering and Technology at Homestead Campus. “The greatest thing that I learned from him is to always see the positive side of life.”

In their first year working together, Coto and Arguelles worked on the Alice Project—a study conducted in collaboration with United Way that provided a snapshot of the poverty rate in Homestead.

After finishing the project, Coto incorporated the findings into his introduction to microcomputer usage course. He encouraged students to donate canned goods to the food pantry by offering extra credit.

Coto also ensured his students were prepared to enter the workforce. Four years ago, he and other faculty at Homestead Campus teamed up on a Teagle Foundation grant. The year-long initiative showed participants how to develop their resumes using Microsoft Word and sharpen their skills via virtual mock interviews.

“It was always a pleasure to listen to him teach,” said Adam Vellone, an associate professor who helped secure the grant.

Vellone, who has taught communication for nearly two decades, befriended Coto five years ago after he helped him optimize his online grade book. In June, Coto oversaw emergency roof repairs to Vellone’s home so he could attend his father’s funeral in Pennsylvania.

Three hours before his passing, Coto assured Vellone that he had his unconditional support.

“I am very indebted to him,” Vellone said.

In addition to being a tenured professor, Coto was a real estate and mortgage broker for Pink Elephant Realty, an agency he founded in 2013. Using his knowledge of technology, Coto created software that reduced inflated real estate prices for his clients.

Coto also served as an IT director and project manager for a local consulting company and founded the Homeless Care Package, a charity he started in 2015 to feed the homeless in downtown Miami.

Before his passing, Coto was working on the Gas Angels initiative. The charity’s goal was to cover the gas expenses for people in need and offer them financial literacy courses.

In his honor, Coto’s family set up a GoFundMe page that has collected more than $8,000. To donate, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3e3Thor.

“He was always protecting everybody,” Margarita said. “I still do not know how he managed to do everything he did.”

Coto also had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

During his life, he earned five college degrees and was working on a sixth despite struggling with dyslexia and dropping out of college in 2001 after his mother was diagnosed with cancer.

In 2003, he earned an associate’s degree in mathematics from Tallahassee Community College. A year later, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida State University.

He earned a second bachelor’s degree in information technology in 2012, a master’s degree in information technology in 2014 and his master’s degree in business administration in 2016 all from Florida International University. For the past six years, Coto was working on a doctorate degree in computer and information systems at Nova Southeastern University.

“He was just a very big character… full of life,” said Tyler Pieron, one of Coto’s classmates while he was working on his doctorate degree.

Coto was awarded his doctorate degree posthumously. His dissertation—focused on cybersecurity—aimed to analyze human brain waves to understand and decrease human error in ransomware attacks. 

“Javier was an amazing guy. He was extremely smart and very dedicated,” said Yair Levy, Coto’s doctoral program professor at Nova Southeastern University. ”We’re going to miss him greatly.”

Play Hard
In his personal life, Coto was known as a daredevil. 

Despite having a motorcycle accident when he was a youngster, he never lost his passion for bikes. During rides, he used his matte-black racing-style motorcycle to explore the vast wilderness of the Everglades and the scenic views in Key West. 

Coto often took road trips with his family to cities like Atlanta, New Orleans and Orlando and visited natural landmarks such as the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.

He enjoyed skydiving, bodybuilding, boating, scuba diving, snorkeling, frequented Ocala’s freshwater caverns and exploring the remnants of old shipwrecks in the Florida Keys.

Simeon Richardson, a senior associate professor of English and history at Homestead Campus, remembers the countless times Coto tried to convince him to go scuba diving.

On Aug. 6, Richardson finally did it. 

“I was channeling his advice to not be afraid of taking risks,” Richardson said. 

When he reached out to Coto to tell him what he had done, he learned of his colleague’s passing.

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