Last Thursday, Sept. 13, members of the Farmingdale Fire Department held a memorial service for Peter J. Ganci Jr., Farmingdale volunteer fireman and 33-year veteran and highly decorated Chief of the New York City Fire Department who died in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

Ganci's memory and courage were honored by many local residents, family members and friends who were on hand at the services to provide their support. Ganci's son Christopher said that the news of his father has been hitting his family very hard, and that he is confident that his father will always be remembered as a wonderful firefighter, a brave man and a great friend.

"Everybody who ever had met Peter Ganci had good things to say about him and he always had wonderful things to say about everybody."

Ganci is survived by his wife Kathleen, his son Peter III, also a New York City firefighter, his son Christopher and daughter Danielle.

Christopher said that his father always made him proud, but hearing how he never left his crew's side made him even prouder.

"I was proud of him every day," Christopher said of his father. "What makes me most proud is the way he died. He died with all of his men, he was down there in the trenches with them, working with them side by side. He was one of them."

The ceremony was attended by Farmingdale Village Mayor Joseph Trudden, who said that Ganci was such a remarkable person and his loss really touched the hearts of all Farmingdale residents. Trudden recalled that Ganci, a close friend, had been out with him on his boat just a week prior to the attack, and that the two were looking at the skyline and commenting on its beauty. "Who knew, a week later, that this would happen," Trudden said. (Please see Mayor Trudden's letter on page 10)

"He was an exemplory member; he was an icon around here," said Assistant Chief of the Farmingdale Fire Department John Salerno. "Anybody who ever joined the fire department in New York City went through Pete, we all knew him."

Salerno added that Farmingdale Fire House was where Ganci could come in and relax from the pressures of every day life. "This was just a place where Pete could let down his hair and relax," he said.

"He was a unique individual," said Farmingdale Fire Department Captain Skip Schumeyer. "I called him a blue shirt chief. He was one of the guys, always working side by side with them."

"He was one of the boys," Salerno added. "He wouldn't let you know he was a chief. He would just tell you he was a fireman in the city, always with his [crew] and that's where he wanted to be."

"He was never the type of guy who wanted a pat on the back," Schumeyer said. Comparing him to the Lone Ranger, Salerno recalled several instances where Ganci would make a huge rescue effort and then continue about his job, never telling a soul.

Ganci was clearly an icon in the Farmingdale area, shown just by the number of people who attended his wake and funeral services.

"The crowds of mourners attending the funeral [last Saturday], along with fire department personnel from New York City and across Long Island, were a testament to the man who loved his fire departments and his community," Mayor Trudden said.