Gianni Bernardinello started placing baskets filled with bread, pizza and sweet rolls outside of his bakery in Milan this past March, as Covid-19 battered Northern Italy’s economy and vulnerable population.

“To give a hand to those in need,” a sign above the baskets read, “help yourself and think of others too.” Bernardinello passed away on Nov. 9 of the coronavirus at a Milanese hospital, his daughter, Samuela Bernardinello, told The New York Times. He was 76.