PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Coping with the sorrow, while celebrating his life, loved ones gathered to remember an attorney, missing and presumed dead.

Mystery still surrounds the disappearance of attorney Steven Cozzi.

Investigators say Cozzi was killed by a Tampa Bay area plastic surgeon.

His body has not been found but today, Cozzi’s friends decided to focus on his life, instead of his death.

They gathered to remember the man they love and celebrate the ways he touched their lives.

“It’s overwhelming. It’s beautiful,” said Becky McDonald, Steven’s childhood best friend.

Under the trees, by the lake, at Walsingham Park, family and friends came together to celebrate the life of Attorney Steven Cozzi.

Steve’s mom, Lois Cozzi, spent weeks organizing the event.

She held it on what would have been her son’s 42nd birthday, May 12, 2023.

The celebration of life organized as a self-guided memorial.

Each station represented a different phase in Steve’s life: his childhood, his college years and his marriage to the love of his life, Michael Montgomery.

Guests wore bow ties in honor of Steve.

They wrote notes and signed pieces of fabric.

Lois will turn the fabric into a memory quilt: a blanket with the name of all the souls touched by her son.

“Every dedication, they were very hard so we’re taking pictures to come back and read again,” said Becky.

“Losing him so tragically and suddenly … it’s a violation that I don’t think anybody will ever get over that loved him and everybody loved.”

Approximately seven miles away from this celebration, Largo detectives say Steve’s life came to a violent, and sudden end.

They say Steve was killed in the restroom of his law office in March.

Now, 52 days later, Steve’s body has still not been recovered.

But plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski is behind bars, charged with First Degree murder.

Prosecutors say they have incriminating video of the doctor at the scene and they are seeking the death penalty.

Kosowski is set to be arraigned at the end of the month. His defense attorney says he’ll plead not guilty.

The celebration of life happened just two days before Mother’s Day.

Guests embraced Steve’s parents at the private event while sharing stories about the kind attorney taken too soon.

“All the ways he could make you laugh and make you mad,” said Becky, “Steven was so well-read and witty and kind at the same time and I think that’s a really hard balance.”

“I’m so glad that he and Michael met each other and I wish they would’ve had longer and I miss him.”