Joseph E. Maloney Burly Firefighter Lifted More
Than His Share February 6, 2002 Around Ladder Co. 3 on 13th Street
and Third Avenue in Manhattan, Joseph Maloney was known as "Big
Joe"-and with good reason. At 45, he still cut an imposing figure:
6-foot-3 and 270 pounds. To stay in shape, he spent hours pumping
iron. Sometimes, another beefy firefighter would lift a personal
best. Then "Big Joe" would come over, casually add 10 pounds to
the bar and lift it with aplomb, keeping his rival's ego firmly
in check. That strength came in handy when a fellow firefighter
once fell into an elevator shaft of a fire-damaged building. "Big
Joe" stretched one brawny arm into the hole and plucked out the
firefighter like a sack of potatoes. Maloney also did heavy lifting
at home. He and his wife, Kathleen, a nurse at Long Island Jewish
Medical Center in New Hyde Park, decided they would shoulder the
parenting load together. "We didn't have children for other people
to raise," Maloney would say. They arranged their schedules so
that they could care for their children, Joseph, 10, and Megan,
7, even if that sometimes meant handing the children off in the
parking lot of LIJ. Then there was the suburban race between their
Farmingville home and school, music lessons, dancing classes and
soccer practice. Maloney, who grew up in Albertson, was big and
burly, but friends knew him as a guy who wore his heart on his
sleeve. "I love you, man," he would say, and give a mate or a
relative one of his patented bear hugs. In the macho confines
of the firehouse, that was often greeted with a mumbled: "Yeah,
OK, man. All right." In his off hours, Maloney, who earned a bachelor's
degree at the State University College at Old Westbury, might
be found in waders, surf-casting around the Island with his brothers,
or jogging with his wife. Maloney also is survived by his parents,
James and Mary Maloney of Albertson; brothers James of Huntington
and Brian of Smithtown, and sisters Mary Werner of Manassas, Va.,
and Elizabeth Maloney of Coram. Late last August, the Maloneys
visited Mary's home in Virginia. One night she was bone tired
and tried to leave the ongoing party, but her brother wouldn't
hear of it. They talked until the wee hours. "His message was:
Grab hold of life," she said. "People tell me he's a hero. I tell
them he was a hero way before Sept. 11." -- Ken Schachter (Newsday)
Return
to Joseph's Home Page