Hundreds gathered in New Jersey Sunday to remember Firehouse's long-time editor-in-chief Harvey Eisner.
Firefighters from Tenafly, where Harvey served for 35 years, were there en masse and brought their apparatus -- many of which Harvey helped design. Firefighters wearing patches from departments across New Jersey mixed in with Maryland, Connecticut, California and New York City firefighters.
Carey Eisner, Harvey’s younger brother, talked about Harvey’s passion for the fire service and desire to educate the fire service through writing, traveling and photography. It all started when Harvey grew up in Brooklyn and lived near a fire station.
Several times while reading messages that were posted on Harvey’s Facebook wall after his passing, Carey stopped to compose himself.
One, from Robert Burdick, said “Thank you Harvey for your insight, advocacy, and enthusiasm for the fire service. Thanks to your family for sharing you with us.”
“No one loved the fire service more than you or devoted more of themselves to it. You made a tremendous difference for a whole generation of firefighters. We cannot thank you enough,” J. Gordon Routley posted.
Carey shared how Harvey’s childhood dream was to be a New York City firefighter, but a knee injury prevented him from being eligible.
“What was New York City’s loss was the American Fire Service’s gain.”
As he thanked the crowd for attending, he finished with the fireman’s prayer and reminded the firefighters to be safe.
“I'm not quite sure what to say except that I can't believe he's gone.” retired FDNY Battalion Chief John Salka said during the eulogy. “It's hard to imagine the American fire service without Harvey,”
“I remember seeing Harvey, everywhere! I was a young firefighter in Rescue 3…Harvey would be there often. You never knew exactly when but suddenly he would be sitting in the kitchen or out on the apparatus floor or on the rig heading for a job in Harlem. And he was everywhere else too. If we went to a 5th alarm in the Bronx, Harvey was there.”
“My good friend Deputy Chief Jay Jonas called me after hearing about Harvey's passing and we talked about all the times we spent together with Harvey. Jay brought to my attention that Harvey's time with the FD and with the magazine and with us ran on a parallel with our careers, and he was right. Harvey was one of us.”
“Harvey visited me at my home just this past Monday morning and we sat in my office talking for over three hours. He was of course working on a new book about the FDNY and we sat and talked and reminisced for hours….I'm glad I had a chance to catch up with Harvey just a few days before he left us.”
The FDNY Emerald Society Pipes & Drums played as 200 firefighters saluted while Tenafly firefighters served as pallbearers and brought the casket from the funeral home.
As the procession of vehicles drove from New Jersey to New York for the burial, the on-duty crews from Englewood, N.J. – Harvey’s mutual aid partner -- stood along Route 4 and saluted.
