Community News
Courtesy Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector
REMEMBERING A HERO
9/11 first responder and advocate Luis
Alvarez mourned in Astoria
BY MAX PARROTT
Hundreds of people gathered outside
Immaculate Conception Church in
Astoria on July 3 for the funeral of
Luis Alvarez, an NYPD detective and
9/11 first responder.
Alvarez, who died from complica-tions
with colon cancer on June 29 at age 53, spent his
last years fighting for 9/11 first responders’ funding.
A former marine and bomb squad detective who
searched for survivors in the aftermath of 9/11, Alvarez
testified before the House Judiciary Committee with former
“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, urging legislators to restore
the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which
is expected to expire by 2020 without renewed funding.
The funeral was attended by politicians and public
figures including Police Commissioner James O’Neill,
Congressman Peter King and former Daily Show host
22 JULY 2019 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
Jon Stewart. A uniformed procession of NYPD officers
as well as firefighters and state police stretched for blocks
around the church.
“Everything he said was said for the benefit of other
people. He made a plea that he had been many places and
had seen many things but he would have been no other
place but Ground Zero or the Pentagon or Shanksville. As
he said, we stood up before the world and said terrorism
would not have its day,” said Father John Harrington.
Harrington, who served as Alvarez’s pastor when he
was growing up in East Elmhurst, spoke on Alvarez’s
personal life, his devotion to the Marine Corps and Police
Department, and selflessness.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Alvarez, joined the NYPD
in 1990, where he served as an undercover narcotics of-ficer
before switching to the bomb squad. He is survived
by his wife and three children.
When O’Neill addressed the parishioners, he made
the political point that no person who responded on
AP Photo/Richard Drew
9/11 “should ever have to beg our elected officials
to act,” citing the fact that more than 500 members
of the NYPD have contracted illnesses as a result
of their work.
“Detective First Grade Luis Alvarez was an authentic
man. He let you know exactly what he thought,” said
O’Neill. “At the end of the day, Lou just wanted to do
what’s right. And he wanted others, particularly those in
positions of great power, to follow suit.”
While the House Judiciary Committee voted unani-mously
to support sick survivors and extend the VCF
until 2090, the full House is not expected to vote on the
measure next month.
After Alvarez sent handwritten note to Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell, the senator pledged to pass
the VCF bill before August recess.
“Please look deep into your conscious and realize it’s
the right thing to do and if you pass it I will die a happy
man,” Alvarez wrote in his note.
Rev. John P. Harrington
blesses the casket during the
funeral ceremony for Detective
Luis Alvarez, at Immaculate
Conception Church, in the
Queens borough of New
York, Wednesday, July 3,
2019. Alvarez, 53, who died
after a three-year battle with
colorectal cancer, fought until
his final days for the extension
of the Sept. 11 Victim
Compensation Fund.
/www.qns.com
/www.qns.com
