Donald Nunney's sister Meredith Nunney McCarthy said her older brother and sister-in-law were "fantastic parents" who would be greatly missed not just by their extended family but also their community.
"Don … was a loving, doting father. He loved Maria more than anything in the world, and he was just there for everybody," McCarthy said, adding, "I couldn't ask for a better brother."
Donald Nunney, 55, and Maria Nunney, 50, of Cleveland, Ohio, were driving with their two younger children, Lucia, 15, and Leo, 9, to meet their eldest son Noah, 19, for lunch near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is a student, on Aug. 15, when their car ran off the interstate and hit several trees, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
The Nunneys, who were both teachers and had recently celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary, died as a result of their injuries sustained in the crash, according to the highway patrol.
Lucia and Leo survived the crash and were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment for "serious injuries," the highway patrol said.
The couple's other son, Diego, 18, who declined to be interviewed by ABC News, had stayed behind in Cleveland for work and was not in the car at the time of the accident, according to Maria Nunney's brother Sandro Galindo.
Family members are caring for Lucia and Leo while they are in the hospital, McCarthy and Galindo said, and plan to continue to care for them and their older siblings in their parents' absence.
"They have a really good support system with ... both sides of the family, so we're doing the best we can to be there for them," McCarthy said.
Galindo remembered his younger sister, who would have turned 51 on Aug. 17, for her vibrant personality.
"Maria pretty much lit up every room she was in. She had a big laugh," Galindo told ABC News. "She loved to laugh and joke around and didn't always take life super seriously. She had four kids, so she knew there were troubles and problems, and she always took them in stride."
Galindo and McCarthy said their families have received an outpouring of support since the Nunneys' unexpected deaths, from the help of first responders and hospital staff to friends and strangers who have raised money online for the couple's children.
Galindo added that he was particularly touched by one moment when he took his nephew's iPhone in for repair after the accident, and they offered to fix it no matter what.
"I said, 'My 9-year-old nephew was in a car accident. He's at the hospital and his birthday wish list is on this phone,'" Galindo recalled. "[The repair person] just said they'll get it fixed."
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol said the crash involving the Nunney family remains under investigation.
