Thomas Kuveikis Tough Guy, Soft Heart and a Soul
of Charity - January 24, 2002
Thomas Kuveikis turned down a future supermodel
in his 20s. Carol Alt, who worked in a bakery adjacent to the
ice cream shop where Kuveikis' younger brother, James, worked,
had seen a strapping, blond, leather- jacketed, motorcycle-riding
Kuveikis visit his brother and took an immediate interest, James
Kuveikis said. She asked Kuveikis' brother to set up a meeting
between the two, but Kuveikis, who was 25 at the time, declined
because he felt Alt, who was 18, was too young for him. Always
popular with women, Kuveikis
was often the object of infatuation for his younger sister Kathleen
Gelman's friends, she said. "A lot of my best friends were in
love with him," Gelman said. "They always told me how handsome
they thought he was." A 24-year veteran of the New York Fire Department,
and a member of Squad 252 in Bushwick for the past five years,
Kuveikis, 48, is presumed dead in the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11. He and fellow firefighter Richard Sweeney spoke two days before
about their "families and work," Sweeney said. The two had met
in 1978, just 11 months after Kuveikis joined the FDNY. "He had
already made a name for himself when we met because of how tough
he was," Sweeney said. "He was the kind of firefighter who would
always go in deeper than he was expected to. He was a very aggressive
fireman." But there was a softer, more giving side to Kuveikis,
Sweeney said. For the last four years, members of Squad 252 visited
a priest at St.Barbara's Roman Catholic Church in Bushwick around
Christmas, and asked for the name of the poorest family in the
parish. They would contact the family, set up a Christmas tree
in their home, and present them gifts. "That was Tom's idea,"
Sweeney said. "He was the type of guy that you could always count
on." Born in Brooklyn in 1953, Kuveikis' family moved to East
Williston soon after. He graduated from the Wheatley School there
in 1971, and worked toward a degree in architecture at both SUNY
Farmingdale and the Pratt Institute. He joined the FDNY in August
1977. Kuveikis' younger brother Tim, a member of Engine Co. 214
in Bedford-Stuyvesant, cited his brother as "a major influence"
in his life. He noted his brother's almost legendary reputation
in the fire department, and said, "if I could be half the fireman
that he was, I'll have a really good career." When Tim was discouraged
by the extent of physicality in the Fire Academy, he went to his
older brother to vent, he said. "When I was in probie school I
hated every minute of it," Tim Kuveikis said. "Tom would always
tell me to hang in there, and that things would only get easier.
He told me to trust him, and I did. If it wasn't for him, I probably
wouldn't be in the FDNY." In his spare time, Kuveikis pursued
carpentry, a skill he learned from his father, Peter, while growing
up. He would work 48-hour shifts at the Bushwick firehouse, drive
to East Hampton to remodel his sister's eyeglass shop, and then
drive back to his Carmel, N.Y., home, Gelman said. And he would
never expect praise. Nicknamed "the poor businessman," by his
father, Kuveikis was "known for undercharging people for carpentry
jobs that he did," Gelman said. Once a year, Kuveikis would donate
a day of carpentry to the Putnam County Land Trust, his fiancee,
Jennifer Auerhahn, said. "The one day he donated was usually stretched
to two or three," she said. But he never complained about it.
Magnanimity was never an issue with Kuveikis. He frequently donated
money to animal rights and environmental charities, she said.
"I guess everybody's got a hero in some shape or form," Tim Kuveikis
said. "For some it's a sports figure or whatever. But I can honestly
say that my big brother was my hero." Kuveikis is also survived
by his daughter, Kristen, of Nicholasville, Ky., and his sisters
Christine Kuveikis of Washington, Conn., Karen Carroll of Wappingers
Falls, N.Y., and Kathleen Gelman of Woodbury.
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