Mario A. Valdes died peacefully on October 27, 2026 at Sancta Maria Nursing Home in Cambridge. He was 85.
He was born at home in Belize on July 20, 1941, the oldest of eight, to a father who published the country’s most-read newspaper and a mother who taught ballet. He listened to the BBC and taught himself its accent to practice the news, and with his parents pored over Vogue, which grew into a career making hats and dresses for his family and handmade ties under his own label, Corbatero. In 1967 he came to Boston on a contract with WGBH just as Say Brother, now Basic Black, was beginning; when his visa ran out he went to Montreal, studied at McGill and worked for the CBC. He held a patent for gelled alcohol, championed clothing printed with photographs long before it was common, hunted patterns and shiny things in every corner of life, and was a devoted parishioner at St. Paul’s in Cambridge, where he was godfather to many.
He leaves his brothers, Billy and Carlos; his sisters, Jackie and MaryBeth; his cousins Richard and Abby; family across Rhode Island, Florida and Belize; and a large circle of godchildren, nieces, nephews, colleagues and friends. His parents and his brothers Johnny, Butch and Teddy died before him.
A funeral Mass is Saturday, November 14 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Cambridge. Burial and a memorial in Belize will follow later. Arrangements are by the Keefe Funeral Home, Cambridge. The family suggests donations to Catholic Charities.
Compiled from information published by Keefe Funeral Home. Photograph courtesy of the family via Keefe Funeral Home. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.
