Funeral in Astoria for 9/11 fi rst responder Luis Alvarez
BY BILL PARRY
A funeral mass was held
on Wednesday at Immaculate
Conception Church in Astoria
for former NYPD detective
Luis Alvarez, a 9/11 first
responder who died in hospice
Saturday morning.
Alvarez, 53, succumbed to
colorectal and liver cancer he
had battled for the last three
years, and his death came
just weeks after his emotional
testimony in Congress urging
them to extend the 9/11 Victims
Compensation Fund that
would cover health benefits to
first responders and survivors,
which is projected to run out
of funding next year.
“It is with peace and
comfort, that the Alvarez
family announces that Luis
(Lou) Alvarez, our warrior,
has gone home to our Good
Lord in heaven today,” the
family said in a statement on
Saturday. “Please remember
his words, ‘Please take care
of yourselves and each other.’
We told him at the end that
he had won this battle by the
many lives he had touched by
sharing his three-year battle.
He was at peace with that
surrounded by family.”
Alvarez was born in
Havana, Cuba, and raised in
the Ditmars section of Astoria.
He graduated from Monsignor
McClancy Memorial High
School in East Elmhurst in
1983 before serving in the U.S.
Marine Corps.
He joined the NYPD in 1990,
where he was assigned to the
108th Precinct in Long Island
City. After responding to the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
Alvarez spent three months on
the pile searching for survivors
and remains while breathing
in the toxic dust that has
claimed the lives of nearly 400
first responders who battled
9/11-related cancers and other
respiratory diseases.
More than 2,000 active
FDNY personnel and nearly
1,000 members of the NYPD
have been forced into early
retirement due to debilitating
9/11 illnesses.
Alvarez gained national
recognition on June 11, where
he and former Daily Show host
Jon Stewart testified before a
House committee urging that
the 9/11 Victims Compensation
Luis Alvarez confers with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney before
his testimony on behalf of fellow 9/11 first responders. Alvarez
died Saturday at age 53. Courtesy of Maloney’s offi ce
Fund continue to be funded.
“Less than 24 hours from
now I will be starting my 69th
round of chemotherapy, yeah,
you heard that correctly,”
Alvarez testified. “I will not
stand by and watch as my
friends with cancer from 9/11
like me are valued less than
anyone else.”
Sitting alongside Stewart
for his testimony, Alvarez told
the five members of Congress
who attended the hearing,
“You all said you would never
forget. Well, I’m here to make
sure that you don’t.”
The following day the
House Judiciary Committee
voted unanimously to bass
the bill restoring the VCF.
Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney championed the
VCF and worked closely with
Alvarez over the years.
“Det. Alvarez is by every
definition a true American
hero,” she wrote on Twitter.
“It is one of the honors of my
life that I got to work with him
& call him a friend.”
John Feal, a fierce 9/11
activist and first responder
at Ground Zero called on
Mayor Bill de Blasio to
present Alvarez the key to the
city during an appearance
on CNN.
“The 9/11 community lost a
giant and it extends now past
the 9/11 community because
Luis touched America. Luis
led his life with dignity and
the American people see
that,” Feal said. “Our souls
are crushed.”
Alvarez entered hospice in
Rockville Centre, Long Island
on June 20. Five days later,
Feal and his team returned to
Washington for a meeting with
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell who committed to
bringing the bill to a vote in
the Senate after Feal gave him
Alvarez’s detective shield to
remind that first responders
are still dying from 9/11.
“We’re going to bury a hero
Wednesday,” Feal said. “But
make no mistake: We’re going
to be sharpening our swords
and we’re going back to D.C.
with a new vigor and Congress
better sense our urgency.”
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8 TIMESLEDGER, JULY 5-11, 2019 QNS.COM
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