CENTRAL PARK, Manhattan (PIX11) -- Who was the homeless man whom neighbors fed and looked out for during the nine months he made an outcropping of rocks in Central Park his home? 

That's the question that dozens of local residents try to get answered, and they're seeking the public's help. It's a quest, they said, that gives the man whose identity is not currently known the respectful final chapter that he deserves. 

He regularly stayed on a large, flat gathering of rocks near the park entrance between 63rd and 64th Streets on Central Park West. 

People who live near that entrance, including Ellen Gavin, first started noticing the man last March. 

Gavin said that he was gruff at first, but she and other local residents would occasionally give him cash and tried talking with him.

A few months ago, she said, she decided to make one of her partner's favorite dinner dishes for the man, who went by the name Jason. 

"I thought, 'Let me make a meal for Jason,'" Gavin said in an interview. "So I brought these gorgeous meatballs, spaghetti" and other food and fruit to him, she said. 

The next day, she encountered him.

"He just said, 'Stop. That was the best meal of my life. Tell me about it.'" Gavin said.

That began months of near-daily encounters that she had with the man, who was in his late 50s or early 60s. Dozens of others would interact with him also. 

However, after the subzero temperatures and snow here two weeks ago, he suffered severe hypothermia, said Gavin. She called people from the Central Park Conservancy, who called an ambulance.

"He flatlined in the ambulance," she said.

Medics were able to revive the man, but he passed away hours later at the hospital on Jan. 20, Gavin learned from police detectives who investigated the case. 

Residents have been sharing the information they learned about the man to get him an honorable burial. 

He went by at least three names: Jason, Dwayne or Thomas. Right now, though, in the city's morgue, he has only one name: John Doe. Gavin is leading an effort to change his anonymous status. 

"We knew he grew up in New York," she said in an interview at the outcropping of rocks where the man stayed.

It's now covered in bouquets of flowers and candles in his honor.  

"We think he might have had a daughter," Gavin continued in discussing attempts to find next of kin. It's a move that's key to getting him an honorable burial.  

"Having his body there unclaimed is just so wrong," she said.

Some residents recalled that the man had mentioned that he'd served in the U.S. Coast Guard at some point. If true, he may be eligible for a military burial with full honors. 

A positive identification is necessary for that to happen. The man was Black, about 6 feet- to 6 feet-1-inch tall, with a salt-and-pepper beard.

Anybody with information is asked to call 311, or contact the NYPD nonemergency number at (646) 610-5000 or let PIX11 News know by emailing [email protected].