9/11 first responder Harry D'Onofrio remembered as 'gentle giant' at ceremony to rename Bohemia street in his honor
Two years after the death of 9/11 responder NYPD Det. Harry D’Onofrio, the Bohemia roadway where he helped raise his family was renamed in his honor.
Relatives, former colleagues, town officials and others gathered Friday morning where Fulton Avenue meets Thirteenth Street to pay tribute to the man they described as a humble and “gentle giant.”
D’Onofrio died at age 61 on April 14, 2021, from a 9/11-related illness. He was survived by his mother, wife, two sons, and four grandchildren.
NYPD Det. Steven Stefanakos, a former colleague of D’Onofrio, said the street renaming was a remembrance of how D’Onofrio lived as well as the far-reaching tragedy of 9/11.
“The reason why it’s so important is we don’t forget the sacrifice people had made during the September 11 attacks and after,” he said.
“The people that we’ve lost, their memories are not forgotten,” he said. “We don’t forget who they are.”
NYPD Det. Harry D’Onofrio died April 14, 2021 of a 9/11 related illness. Credit: West Sayville FD
Born in Brooklyn, D’Onofrio joined the West Sayville Fire Department at age 18, rising to the rank of chief over his 43 years as a member. In 1984, D’Onofrio joined the NYPD. He became a detective for the Emergency Service Unit, which responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Even in retirement, D’Onofrio served as a security guard for the Connetquot school district.
Growing up, his youngest son Brian D’Onofrio said it was important to follow in his father’s footsteps. Today, he is the chief of the West Sayville Fire Department and his older brother, Patrick D'Onofrio, is the department's first assistant chief.
“It’s going to be great to see his name on the street that he raised myself and my brother on and be great for our kids — his four grandchildren — to see that as they grow up in the future,” Brian D'Onofrio said.
When asked what he hoped people would take away as they rode down the block, seventh-grader Tyler D’Onofrio, one of Harry's grandchildren, said: “That he lived here, like on this block, and that he was such a big hero.”
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.
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