Fire Lieutenant Patrick Brady, who died while battling a blaze in Brooklyn last weekend, received a funeral befitting a hero on Saturday.
Thousands of firefighters joined the Brady family at St. Francis de Sales Church in Belle Harbor, Queens, on Nov. 15 to pay their final respects to Brady, who suffered a fatal cardiac event while working to put out a fire on the roof of a building on Kings Highway in Brownsville on Nov. 8.
Brady’s casket, draped in an American flag, arrived at the Catholic church on Saturday morning while mounted on the back of the Ladder Company 120 truck. Brady had valiantly served Ladder 120 for the last three years of his 11-year FDNY career; he was previously assigned to Engine Company 227.
Bagpipers from the NYPD and the Suffolk County Police Department set the mood of the solemn ceremony with music as Brady’s colleagues served as pallbearers, carrying his coffin off the truck and into the church. Father Peter Purpura, the FDNY chaplain, celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial, and outgoing Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker delivered a eulogy remembering Brady as being emblematic of what a New York City firefighter ought to be.
“He’s given me the keenest inside look at friendship, family, pain, loyalty and most of all, what it means to be a member of the FDNY,” said Tucker, who at the conclusion of his eulogy announced he was posthumously promoting Brady to the rank of lieutenant “out of a sense of great love, and abundance of gratitude, for all that Pat did for the FDNY, and for the gift of Pat.”
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro — standing in for Mayor Eric Adams, who is on a scheduled trip in Israel — noted the stories he heard about Brady’s ability to light up the room, yet provide “a sense of grace that brought calm to those around him.” Mastro offered his hope that Brady’s widow, Kara, and the entire Brady family would continue to feel his presence in the years to come.
“I hope today you feel his light and his grace and his calm because it is all around us, and it will envelop you for the rest of your lives because he will always be with us,” Mastro said. “He will always be here in our hearts, and he will always be with you as a source of inspiration.”
Brady, who comes from a long line of firefighters in his family, was credited with five pre-hospital saves of patients in his career. His cousin, Firefighter Peter Brady, called Patrick the “apex” of his family.
“Older and younger, we all seemed to ride his coattails. He had the unique ability to be the most popular, coolest guy with absolutely none of the ego,” Peter Brady said. “His popularity came from his pure thoughtfulness.”
