In Awe of 'Nicky Love' He loved karate and he was good at it. His karate teacher, Dr. Gene Isola, speaks in awe about one of Nicholas Rossomando's feats: he put a six- inch pile of wood on two cinder blocks and then smashed the pile with his fist. "He hit it so hard that he also broke the cinder blocks on one side," Dr. Isola said. "We have it on film. The guy was built like a steel tank." That feat, Dr. Isola said, exemplified the gusto that was Nicholas Rossomando. He loved working as a firefighter. He loved to cook ‹ for his girlfriend, for his parents, for his buddies at Rescue Company 5. He loved carpentry; as a volunteer he built 80 percent of the interior of the karate school. "He had an overwhelming enthusiasm about life, not just 100 percent, but 1,000 percent," Dr. Isola said. "From the way he smiled and hugged you, to the way he made a meal, to the way he did martial arts, it was done with enthusiasm and passion. There was no halfway with Nicky." "At the karate school," Dr. Isola continued, "everyone had nicknames. There was Crazy Eye Joe, Jazzy Jeff, but Nicky's nickname was Nicky Love."

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