Assistant
Chief Gerard Barbara
Citywide Tour Commander
Memorial
Service was held
on October 1, 2001
A
Dad and Yankees Lover Since Sept. 11, scores of well wishers
have packed the small Staten Island home of Gerard Barbara,
assistant chief of the New York Fire Department. Mr. Barbara's
wife and two children recognize many of the faces, but not all
of them. In an odd twist, they end up consoling some of the
visitors, who appear lost. Many just want to hang on to any
memory of the chief, who was widely respected and loved for
his humanitarian spirit, said his wife, Joanne. "People I've
never seen before are saying, 'You don't understand, I loved
your dad,' " said a son, Paul, 23. "I say, I do understand,
he was my dad!' " Mr. Barbara, 53, a 31-year veteran of the
Fire Department, was one of the city's highest-ranking supervisors.
He was walking toward the lobby of the second trade center tower
when the building collapsed. Paul said that when he and his
sister, Caren, were growing up, they had no idea that their
father was an important member of the Fire Department, because
he was just a dad who was wild about the Yankees. Caren said:
"If the terrorists think they have won, they haven't. This whole
thing just drove my dad deeper into our hearts. He died doing
one of the things he liked best, trying to save people." Profile
published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 4, 2001.
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