A New York City firefighter who died in a motorcycle crash cherished his job and being a devoted new father, grieving colleagues told Newsweek.
Joseph M. Herman, a 36-year-old firefighter at Ladder Company 111 in Brooklyn, died late Sunday after a crash on the Southern State Parkway, where he was thrown off his motorcycle while attempting to change lanes, state police said.
Herman, a talented athlete who also played for the FDNY’s football and lacrosse teams, was subsequently stuck by another motorcycle and later pronounced dead at a hospital. The 10-year firefighting veteran is survived by his wife, mother, stepfather and 1-year-old daughter, Lacy Leigh Herman.
“Joey was kind and patient,” FDNY Capt. Alan Beach told Newsweek. “He got along with kids just as well as adults. You know, my three kids called him the ‘funcle’ — he was the fun uncle. But make no mistake, Joey was all about being a fireman, he was all about 111 Truck and when Joey had to be a killer or an assassin, he was.”
Herman’s compassion would morph into intensity when responding to a fire or stepping onto a football or lacrosse field, Beach said.
“You put Joey on the fire floor, you put Joey on the athletic field, that wasn’t the same kind and patient kid you would see playing with your kids,” he said.
Beach said Herman, who previously played lacrosse at Nassau Community College, convinced him to play for the FDNY’s team shortly after joining the department a decade ago.
“I actually ended up playing until I was 40,” he said. “Joey made me keep playing with him. He was an amazing athlete.”
The pair played lacrosse together just a week earlier as Herman joined Beach’s family on vacation, he said.
“He was just so infectious in any room he stepped into,” Beach said. “As long as everybody was on the same page, there was nobody better to be around.”
A wake for Herman, of Amityville, will be held Friday at the Charles G. Schmitt Funeral Home in Seaford, New York. Funeral services are set for Saturday at St. William the Abbot Church in Seaford, with interment to follow at Pinelawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Herman’s father, NYPD Officer Jeff B. Herman, died days after being shot in June 1989 while responding to a domestic disturbance in Brooklyn. Herman was just three months old at the time.
Herman’s widow, Amanda Herman, said her late husband had a “huge heart” full of passion, whether pertaining to his interests like surfing, football, lacrosse or being a devoted family man.
“My daughter Lacy absolutely adores him and to say she was a daddy’s girl doesn’t do it justice,” Amanda Herman told Newsweek via text message. “They were 2 peas in a pod. She may look like me, but her personality is all him. His two biggest loves were his daughter and the firehouse.”
Herman simply adored being a fireman, his partner said.
“He was born for it,” Amanda Herman continued. “He spent his free time rewatching old fires, a real ‘buff.’ But he would take his shirt off his back for just about anyone. To say he will be severely missed just doesn’t do it justice. Her father will grow up remembering her father the way he deserves.”
FDNY Lt. Gregory Rup, who attended Herman’s wake early Friday, characterized him as a “tremendous presence” at the firehouse.
“He was just always present,” Rup told Newsweek. “He was the first guy in the door, the first guy to call you if you needed something. He always showed up. Just a standup, step up guy.”
Herman held colleagues to incredibly high standards, matching his own relentless drive, Rup said.
“He took a lot of pride in being a great fireman and he expected that of the guys around him, too,” Rup said. “Same thing with the way he guided himself on the football or lacrosse field. He just held himself and friends to a high standard and he carried that over to fatherhood.”
Herman was also intensely proud of his late father and strived to continue the fallen cop’s legacy of service, Rup said.
“The way he acted was how he thought his father thought he should carry himself,” Rup said. “And I think he was a better man because of it.”
The FDNY Foundation has established the Joseph M. Herman Scholarship Fund in honor of the late father. Donations can be made via the organization’s website.
Herman is the second FDNY firefighter to die in an off-duty motorcycle crash in less than two months. Matthew Goicochea, 31, died on July 24 after failing on Manhattan’s FDR Drive and being run over by a vehicle that fled the scene, police told WABC.
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