FDNY Loses Father and Son to 9/11-Related Cancers

Aug. 17-- A New York City firefighter who spent time working at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks has succumbed to cancer less than a year after his firefighting father also died from what the FDNY says was a 9/11-related illness.

The Daily News reports that FDNY marine engineer Robert Alexander, 43, died Monday from complications of a brain tumor stemming from his several weeks of work sifting through the rubble at the World Trade Center site and at the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, where the remains of the WTC buildings were warehoused.

Alexander was an NYPD officer at the time of the attacks, but he wanted to follow in his father Raymond's footsteps and joined the FDNY in January 2002. Raymond Alexander was an FDNY lieutenant who spent months during his 40-year career assisting with recovery efforts in downtown Manhattan.

Raymond's wife, Ginger, told the Daily News that her husband battled seven different forms of cancer between 2003 and 2016 before eventually dying of lung cancer on Nov. 21. Robert had left his position only a month earlier after a small inoperable tumor had formed on his brain.

"I'm not doing great, I gotta tell you," Ginger Alexander told the Daily News. "Today I spent two hours doing what I have to do and then I sat by my car near a little lake near my home and I just cried.

"I will not get into the blame game ... it is what it is," she said. "A lot of people have lost their husbands and boys."

The Alexanders are the first father and son to die from 9/11-related illnesses. FDNY firefighter Joseph Angelini Sr., 63, and his namesake, Joseph Angelini Jr., 38, both died when the Twin Towers collapsed that September morning.

Next month, the names of both Raymond and Robert will be placed side-by-side on a special memorial wall for 9/11-related illness victims at FDNY Headquarters.

The names of 30 other FDNY members will also be placed on the memorial wall, which reads, "Dedicated to the memory of those who bravely served this department protecting life and property in the city of New York in the rescue and recovery effort at Manhattan Box 5-5-8087 World Trade Center."

Robert Alexander is the 159th FDNY member -- including firefighters, EMS personnel, civilian employees and fire marshals -- to have died of 9/11-related illnesses, according to department officials.

"World Trade Center illnesses continue to take the lives of far too many FDNY members, now including two generations of the Alexander family -- a father and son who served so bravely, for so long," FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Wednesday.