Kevin J. Cassidy

Kevin was born on March 7, 1950, to Helen and Bill Cassidy. He was their second child of the five siblings living in Queens Village, New York. At the age of 18, Kevin enlisted in the Army. He was due to serve in Vietnam, but an uprising in Korea had his group sent to that site. Upon discharge back home, he applied to the FDNY and other public service jobs. It was the FDNY that really had his calling. He started out in the “burning” Bronx, New York, where the runs were almost nonstop. He studied and succeeded in becoming first a lieutenant and then a captain. On 9/11, he was home. I made the call to him to turn on the news. As soon as he saw it, he got in his car to respond. He was one of the last officers that the FDNY felt they needed at the site. We had no communication with him except for an occasional quick call. In 2003, he was diagnosed with renal cancer requiring a nephrectomy. Little did we know at the time that Kevin acquired a rare type of renal cancer with no cure or treatment known. He did survive longer than expected due to the heroic steps Bhoomi Mehrotra, M.D. took with his care. A few days before his death we were in Chicago searching for anything else that could be done. That oncologist said to Kevin, “I guess with what you know now, you would have done things differently.” Kevin’s immediate reply was that, no, our people were in that building, and we would not have changed a thing. My tears at the time were for the bravery the members of the FDNY showed on that day and all the days since.