James J. Riches, a retired deputy chief for the New York City Fire Department who spent months in the wreckage of the World Trade Center searching for the remains of his firefighter son and others who were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, died on Thursday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 74. The death was confirmed by Thomas Riches, his youngest son, who attributed it to exposure to toxic dust at ground zero. “He had a long list of World Trade Center ailments from his time down there,” he said in a phone interview, “and it finally took its last toll on him.”
Chief Riches had been with the Fire Department for 24 years when terrorists in two commandeered passenger airplanes struck the towers. His eldest son, Jimmy, who was also a firefighter, was among those who responded to the attacks. He never came home.
Chief Riches spent the next six months on search and recovery efforts at the site looking for his son and the hundreds of others who were killed when the buildings collapsed.
After Jimmy’s remains were found, in March 2002, Chief Riches summoned his three other sons — Timothy, Danny and Thomas — to accompany him into the pit to carry him out.
“I live 9/11. I live it every day,” Chief Riches said at an event honoring him in 2011. “I lost my son, Jimmy. My best friend. My oldest boy.”
He added: “There will never be closure for us. The hurt is always there.”
In time, each of Chief Riches’s sons also became New York City firefighters.
At ground zero, Chief Riches worked through the end of recovery efforts in May 2002, which left him with lasting health consequences. By 2005, he said, the toxic air he had inhaled caused him to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome and then pneumonia. He spent 16 days in a coma.
Each year, the family gathered at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Lower Manhattan on the anniversary of the attack for a solemn recitation of the names of the victims, fulfilling a pledge to never forget.
This year his 10-year-old grandson Tommy became the fifth member of his generation to recite names of the dead. Chief Riches made the trip with the assistance of a walker and a portable oxygen tank.
Even after his retirement in 2007, Chief Riches was frequently quoted by national news outlets reacting to developments related to the aftermath of the attacks, and pushing for better compensation for rescue workers who became ill.
“He was an advocate for the families and sick workers,” said his son Thomas, who serves as a firefighter in Brooklyn. (His brothers have retired.)
In 2009, Chief Riches traveled to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to represent the family and the Fire Department at a military commission case for five men charged with conspiring in the attacks. The case is still in pretrial proceedings. His frustration mounted as the case stalled, and stalled again, across successive U.S. administrations.
In 2010, he opposed a plan to build a mosque close to the 9/11 Memorial. “We’re not against them practicing Islam — we know not all Muslims did this,” he told CBS News at the time. “We think they should be a little more sensitive and move this just a little further away from ground zero.”
In 2012, he urged the National Park Service to take over running the 9/11 Memorial, to ensure its longevity.
In 2023, he expressed disbelief and distrust in a plea deal to resolve the case against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man accused of being the mastermind of the attacks, with a life sentence rather than a capital trial at Guantánamo Bay.
James Joseph Riches was born on Oct. 29, 1951, in the Bronx to Mary (Duffy) and James Riches, a city worker. He grew up in Brooklyn.
He joined the fire department on Aug. 13, 1977, and was medically retired 30 years later. He was a fireman, lieutenant and captain in Brooklyn, then became a battalion chief in Harlem in 2002, his son Thomas said. He also served as deputy chief of administrative operations, according to Uniformed Firefighters Association.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Rita (Mooney), whom he met at age 15; his three sons; and eight grandchildren.
Carol Rosenberg reports on the wartime prison and court at Guantánamo Bay. She has been covering the topic since the first detainees were brought to the U.S. base in 2002.
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