Cancer claims life of 38-year-old hero of 9/11

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The drum roll began and bagpipers played a solemn tune as scores of uniformed firefighters lined Riverdale Avenue. They stood in silence as the casket carrying Kevin Rooney; a Riverdale native, from St. Margaret of Cortona Church was placed in the vintage fire truck. It would carry him part of the way to Woodlawn Cemetery for burial.  

Rooney died of cancer as a result of his service on 9/11. He was 38.

According to his childhood friends Bernard Madden and Peter Dolan, Rooney learned that he had stage-four cancer eight months ago. 

“He wasn’t one for publicity,” Madden said in a telephone interview. 

Dolan and Madden, first met Rooney when they were in kindergarten at the Visitation School, recalled the recalled the trips they took over years to the Jersey Shore. They said Rooney was a modest person and would want to be remembered as a loving husband and father, good friend and someone who loved his job and his friends. 

Rooney was born and raised in Riverdale, and his parents still live in the area, according to a representative from the FDNY.

“As Kevin’s teacher for two years, I remember a lovely, friendly person [whom] everyone liked. Always eager to contribute and to help, he obviously carried these qualities throughout his life,” Loretta Curan said on the website of Riverdale-On-Hudson Funeral Home, which organized the funeral.

He became a police officer in 2000 and served in the 33rd precinct and as a first responder during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

In 2004, Rooney decided to join the FDNY. He served in Engine Company 42 in the South Bronx.  Four firefighting units were Rooney served received awards during his service, FDNY officials said. 

According to the obituary on the funeral home’s website, Rooney is survived by his wife Vaneza, daughter Jasmin, brother Frank, nieces Ava and Violet and parents Kathleen and Francis.

FDNY, Kevin Rooney, 9/11, Margaret of Cortona, Lisa Herndon, Anthony Capote

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