Peter Freund, 45, fire lieutenant was Tottenville football star

Athletic firefighter enjoyed jogging and coaching his children's sports teams

By Frank Williams
Advance staff writer
Wednesday, 10/24/2001

Peter Louis Freund, 45, a fire lieutenant who died in the Sept. 11 attack on
the World Trade Center, first met the former Robin A. Miller when he was a
student playing football for Tottenville High School.

Like a scene in a movie, the cheerleader caught his eye while rooting for him from the sidelines.

"I was a cheerleader and he was a football player. We dated in high school
and he was my first love," recalled Mrs. Freund.

But the love story needed time to develop.

"We were just very young. There was a whole big world out there," she
recalled. "I married someone else and eventually divorced. He traveled
backpacking through Europe and sowed his wild oats."

But 14 years later, after college and some growing up, the star-crossed
couple got back together. They were married in 1987.

"Everyone who knew us knew we belonged together," said Mrs. Freund, who believes he waited to marry her. "He had a tattoo of a robin on his arm."

Born in Norfolk, Va., Mr. Freund was brought by his family to Eltingville in
1960 and moved to Silver Lake in 1983. As newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Freund settled in Westtown, N.Y., in 1987.

After capping a football career at Tottenville that earned him 1972 Advance All Star honors, and graduating from high school as a Regents Merit Scholar, Mr. Freund enrolled at Brooklyn College. He graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in computer science.

Mr. Freund was a city firefighter for 22 years. He spent the last seven years as a lieutenant in Engine Co. 55 in Manhattan's Little Italy. Prior to that, he worked for 12 years in Engine Co. 18, Manhattan, after a brief stint in Ladder Co. 8, also Manhattan.

On the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, Mrs. Freund was driving a bus for her local public school district -- she had just started the job four days
before. Mr. Freund had been at his firehouse since Monday morning.

"I tried to reach him in the morning. I used a cell phone in the bus garage
and got a busy signal," Mrs. Freund said. "When I got to the middle school I found out what happened -- I knew he was there."

Mrs. Freund said other firefighters told her they last saw her husband in a
stairwell in Tower 1.

The Fire Department officially notified Mrs. Freund on Monday that her
husband's remains had been found. The news brought relief.

"I'm glad to have closure and grateful to get him back," she said. "I'm going to be able to put the man to rest in a proper way."

Mrs. Freund met President George W. Bush on Oct. 3, when he visited New York City and stopped in at her husband's firehouse. The president had pizza with firefighters and their family members in the firehouse kitchen.

Always athletic, Mr. Freund enjoyed jogging and coaching his children in the Minisink Valley Youth Baseball, Softball and Football leagues. While a Staten Islander, he played on the Jody's Club Forest softball team.

"My husband lived every day to the fullest. He was always laughing and gentle spoken," said Mrs. Freund. "What you saw is what you got. He wasn't out to impress anybody and would help anybody in a heartbeat."

Mr. Freund also had a lifelong love for astronomy.

"He actually built an observatory in the backyard with a removable roof,"
said Mrs. Freund. "We'd go out there and listen to the Grateful Dead, have a campfire in the backyard and star-gaze -- that was our entertainment."

While a Staten Islander, Mr. Freund was a member of Eltingville Lutheran
Church. In addition to his wife, Robin, surviving are his son, Peter C.; his
two daughters, Dori Emma Freund and Julie Anna Freund; his stepson, Ronald J. Coronato; a brother, Charles T., and two sisters, Barbara Salvadore and Dr. Carol Marguerite Freund.

The funeral will be Tuesday from the Ralston-Lippincott-Hasbrouck-Ingrassia Funeral Home, with a service at 11 a.m. in St. John's Lutheran Church, both Middletown, N.Y. Cremation will take place with a private ceremony at a later date.

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