In memoriam: Key fi gures who passed in 2019
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | DEC. 27-JAN. 2, 2020 21
YEAR IN REVIEW
BY BILL PARRY
Queens District Attorney
Richard A. Brown dead at
age 86
Richard A. Brown, who
served Queens for nearly 30
years as its top law enforcement
official, died in May at
age 86.
Brown had been battling
from complications of Parkinson’s
disease for years before
he announced in March he
was taking a leave of absence
as Queens District Attorney,
the job he held since Governor
Mario Cuomo appointed him
in 1991.
Working with local law enforcement,
Brown’s era saw
crime across the borough
plunge from record highs in the
early 1990s to record lows at the
end of his tenure. Brown also
established various programs
designed to protect the most
vulnerable and give minor offenders
a chance at redemption.
Brown announced in January
that he would not seek reelection,
largely due to his failing
health. Seven candidates
ran in the Democratic primary
to replace Brown and Queens
Borough President Melinda
Katz was the eventual nominee.
She went on to defeat Joe
Murray in the general election
and she will be sworn in Jan. 6
at St. John’s University.
Retired cop and 9/11 first
responder Luis Alvarez dies
a hero at age 53
Former NYPD Detective
and 9/11 first responder Luis
Alvarez succumbed to 9/11-
related cancer he battled for
three years in June, at the age
of 53. Raised in the Ditmars
section of Astoria, Alvarez
went on to become a national
hero bravely testifying in Congress
urging members to make
the 9/11 Victims Compensation
Fund permanent a day before
he was scheduled to start his
69th round of chemotherapy.
The following day the House
Judiciary Committee voted
to unanimously pass the bill
which was eventually signed
into law. Weeks later, Alvarez
entered hospice on Long Island
where he died days later from
the 9/11-related cancer .
Born in Havana, Cuba, Alvarez
graduated from Monsignor
McClancy High School in
East Elmhurst in 1983 before
serving in the Marine Corps.
He joined the NYPD in 1990,
where he was assigned to the
108th Precinct in Long Island
City.
Following the attacks of
Sept. 11, Alvarez, then a detective
in the NYPD’s Bomb
Squad, spent three months on
the pile searching for survivors
and remains breathing in
the toxic dust at Ground Zero.
Labor giant Héctor
Figueroa, a Jackson
Heights resident, dies at
age 57
Héctor Figueroa, one of the
city’s most powerful labor leaders,
suffered a heart attack and
died in July at age 57.
A resident of Jackson Height,
Figueroa was elected president
of 32BJ SEIU in 2012 which represents
more than 170,000 building
service workers such as
security guards, cleaners, doormen
and airport workers and at
a time when labor is in retreat
across the country, he added
nearly 50,000 new members.
Figueroa campaigned for
better pay and working conditions
and was a key figure
in the battle for immigrant
rights. Born in Puerto Rocio,
where his parents were teachers,
Figueroa moved to the
United States in 1982 after participating
in a student strike.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
called Figueroa a “towering
figure in politics and a hero of
the labor community” who did
untold good for working people
of the state and nation. Mayor
Bill de Blasio renamed PS 398
in Jackson Heights to honor
Figueroa in December calling
him the “embodiment of the
fight for fairness and justice.
Rosedale resident Kyle
Bragg was voted unanimously
elected as the new president of
32BJ. Figueroa is survived by
his wife Diedre McFayden and
two daughters.
Long Island City’s
unofficial mayor Frank
Carrado dies at 89
Long Island City lost its unofficial
mayor Frank Carrado
in April at age 89 following
complications from a stroke.
Before it became the fastest
growing neighborhood in the
country with its towering
luxury apartment buildings
along the East River waterfront,
Long Island City was
the gritty soot covered industrial
center of Queens where
Carrado grew up and lived
his entire life. He watched the
neighborhood change through
the decades through the viewfinder
of his camera and his
photography hangs in building
lobbies, bars and restaurants.
“It was all factories,” Carrado
said in a 2014 interview.
“We had a lot of pollution because
of them. You could walk
across the East River because
there was so much sludge and
garbage and the stench was
so bad that we prayed that the
wind would blow it over Brooklyn.”
Carrado remembered when
Long Island City was primarily
Irish and Italian.
“Everyone intermarried.
The Irish women didn’t like
the Irish men’s drinking habits,
so they married the Italians
and the Italian women
didn’t like the Italian men’s
temperament, so they married
the Irish,” Carrdo said.
In December, the City
Parks Department announced
a contest to rename Bridge
and Tunnel Park at 50th Avenue
between 11th Place and
11th Street. Long Island City
residents are hoping the little
park, close to Carrado’s home,
will be named for their unofficial
mayor.
Labor leader from Glen
Oaks, Kevin Lynch, dies
at 73
Tri-state labor leader Kevin
Lynch of Glen Oaks died in
March at age 73. Among the
trade unions to which he devoted
his organizing, political
and strategic skills were
UAW District 65, AFSCME
DC 1707, the Teamsters Local
Union 840 IAM District
15RWDSU 338, CWA 1180 and
the New York City Central Labor
Council.
Lynch stood for worker
s o l i d a r -
ity and imm
i g r a nt
rights and
over the
last decade
partnered
with labor
groups to
bring back
the May
Day rallies
to New
York City.
As a founding member of
the Working Families Party,
Lynch was successful in partnering
labor unions and refocus
electoral politics, holding
elected officials and politicians
accountable to working
families.
When Lynch was honored
with a lifetime achievement
award at the WFP Progressive
Leadership Conference,
Lynch recalled growing up
the son of Irish immigrants,
and paying union dues for
more than 50 years.
“Growing up in my house,
my mother used to say ‘If you
leave the church you’ll break
my heart, you cross a picket
line and I’ll break your legs,’”
he said.
Lynch is survived by his
wife of 31 years, Queens
County Supreme Court Justice
Bernice D. Siegel and
their two daughters.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown QNS fi le photo
Luis Alvarez with Rep. Carolyn
Maloney. Courtesy of Maloney
Héctor Figueroa
Courtesy of 32BJ SEIU
Frank Carrado QNS fi le photo
Kevin Lynch
Courtesy of
Rebecca Lynch
/QNS.COM
