Family, friends and colleagues recently paid tribute to Gerry Bambrick's six years of dedicated service as a trustee for the Village of Floral Park.

A Citizens' Party candidate, Bambrick was first elected to the board in March 2001 and has served as building and library commissioner and board liaison to the Architectural Review Board, Abatement Committee and Citizens with Disabilities Committee, among other positions.

Over the past years, he served as chairman of the committee that reviewed the village code as it relates to subdivisions of village properties. His experience proved vital when the village board scrutinized a commercial property owner's application in 2003 to construct a multi-tiered parking lot on Verbena Avenue. The board later passed a local law to prohibit above ground multi-tiered parking lots.

Further, Bambrick served as the village's noise abatement officer and served on the village's recreation, parking study and Covert Avenue renovation committees prior to becoming trustee. He is a former president of the Hillcrest Civic Association and had been either an officer or director of the association for eight years prior to becoming trustee. He is also a former chairman, vice chairman and co-captain of the Citizens' Party. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Floral Park Lions Club, was a soccer coach in the Floral Park Indians soccer program for several years and has been a manager for Floral Park Little League.

He too was counsel to the Community Spirit Fund, which was organized in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 tragedy as a vehicle for residents to funnel contributions for the benefit of local victims' families. During his tenure, Bambrick was able to obtain tax-exempt status for the fund from the IRS on an expedited basis.

"He served this village with honor and distinction and his sage advice is sorely missed by all who benefited from it so often," Mayor Phil Guarnieri said in this week's mayor's column. "We wish him, his wife Mary, and the entire Bambrick family health, happiness and success."

When first elected, Bambrick took the oath of office from his father, retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Eugene Bambrick.