More details have emerged about the difficulties faced by the married couple who took their own lives together by jumping from a Midtown Manhattan building last week.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Dr. Glenn Scarpelli, 53, and his wife, Patricia Colant, 50, jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of the Madison Avenue building where Dr. Scarpelli maintained his chiropractic practice, and where Colant also worked.

The couple left suicide notes blaming financial distress for their suicides. In her note, Colant asked that the couple’s children be taken care of.

Heartbroken friends spoke to DNAinfo about their shock that the couple kept their financial struggles to private while always being generous with their time and resources. As CrimeOnline previously reported, Scarpelli spent time at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks offering free treatment to emergency responders searching through the rubble. The husband and wife were both highly respected among their colleagues and patients.

“Both of them were such amazing people and were so genuine and kind, and in Midtown Manhattan, everybody [at their practice] felt like they had walked into an oasis of a different time and space,” said fellow chiropractor Amy Burke. “They always asked about everybody’s kids and family… they were just kind. Patricia ran the office… her presence took you by surprise in how beautiful she was, but she was so humble and warm with everyone. She was one of the most down-to-earth people I’ve met.”

Burke noted the painful irony that a GoFundMe campaign launched to help pay tuition for the couple’s college-aged children is rapidly gaining on its goal of $100,000. When they died, Scarpelli and Colant reportedly owed almost $20,000 in back taxes and has a lien of over $200,000 in debt.

“I’m so moved, but I’m not at all surprised,” Burke told DNAinfo. “They gave to so many people and it doesn’t surprise me, but [the money] coming back [to them] now, hurts.”

Another friend, David Levin, told the news outlet that he sometimes joined the couple in their volunteer work at soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

“Patty was always by his side and together they were doing these things,” he added. “They did everything as a couple. They were Italian Catholic and deep into their faith as well. [Their death] doesn’t seem to make much sense.”

Feature photo: Facebook/David Levin