On the unforgettable Tuesday morning that saw the World Trade Center towers attacked, the firefighters of Engine Co. 230 of the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn would be called to their finest hour. Among the members of this heroic engine company was Firefighter Jeffrey Stark, who was last seen leaving his rig at Broadway and Vesey streets with his company and walking toward the towers. Five firefighters from Engine Co. 230 would not return, including Mr. Stark. Like all who are missing, the 30-year-old Great Kills resident had plans and aspirations that will go unfulfilled. For Mr. Stark, those plans included marriage to Katharine Suarez, whom he had been dating for the last five years. "He was everything," said Ms. Suarez. "He spent four of those five years helping me through law school. He was my support system. He was behind me 100 percent." "He was a very lighthearted, even-tempered, happy young man who was on the brink of entering his adulthood with a lot of positive plans," said his sister, Therese Stark. When he graduated from the Fire Academy in May 1999, Mr. Stark joined his two brothers, John and Joseph, as a proud member of the New York City Fire Department. His first assignment was to Engine Co. 230, where he worked for a year before being reassigned to Engine Co. 160, Concord. When he was transferred to Ladder Co. 33 in the Bronx, Mr. Stark worked side by side with his older brother, John, a captain of Engine Co. 75 in the same firehouse. His final assignment saw him return to his first engine company in Brooklyn. Mr. Stark's brother, Joseph, is a marine engineer with the city Fire Department in Lower Manhattan's Marine Co. 1. "He was proud to be part of the Fire Department," said his sister. "It was a job that he took great pride in." Prior to becoming a firefighter, Mr. Stark had worked for several years for PaineWebber, Manhattan. He attended Niagara University, Lewiston, N.Y., and transferred to St. John's University, Grymes Hill, where he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree. He was a graduate of Monsignor Farrell High School. Mr. Stark was an outdoorsman who loved hunting and fly fishing, and was an avid reader. In addition to his girlfriend, Katharine, his sister, Therese, and his brothers, John and Joseph, surviving are his mother, Rosemary, and another sister, Kathleen Stark-West. His father, John, died in 1974. There will be a mass Monday at 10 a.m. in St. Clare's R.C. Church, Great Kills.

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