Neil Joseph Leavy Firefighter Wanted to Be Where the Action Was Sept. 25, 2001

Neil Leavy got just what he wanted when he was assigned to Engine Company 217 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. Leavy, 34 and a lifelong Staten Islander, wanted to be where the action was. His cousin Michael Leavy, retired from Engine 217, said: "He picked that house to go. He knew Bed-Stuy was really busy." Answering the call to the World Trade Center, Leavy made radio contact from the lobby of the South Tower to say that he was headed toward a stairwell to search for survivors. Then the tower collapsed, and Leavy was never heard from again. Five days later, they pulled his body from the rubble. Leavy, a graduate of New Jersey City University in 1996 with a bachelor of science degree in finance, had once worked in the World Trade Center as a trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He had another cousin, Bob Leavy, who also was a firefighter for Ladder 103. "Because of the tradition of his family, he always wanted to be a firefighter," said Michael Leavy. Neil Leavy is survived by his father, John, a retired New York City policeman; his mother, Ann, and a brother, Mark. -- Jeff Williams (Newsday)

Neil Leavy worked for the city's fire department for nearly five years after leaving his job as a commodities trader at the World Trade Center. "Because of the tradition in his family, he always wanted to be a firefighter," said cousin Michael Leavy, a retired firefighter. Neil Leavy earned two citations for bravery as a firefighter. His last radio contact came from the lobby of one of the twin towers; he was headed toward the stairwell to help rescue victims before the building collapsed. -- The Associated Press

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