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Hollis Hills fire commish dies of rare blood disease

By Adam Kramer

Although he was never a fireman, Deputy Fire Commissioner Roy Katz, 48, who died last week, lived for the Fire Department.

The Hollis Hills resident, who spent more then 19 years with the FDNY and died Sept. 4 of a rare blood disease, left a long legacy with the force. He was responsible for numerous multimillion-dollar projects, including the transfer of Fort Totten from the federal government to the Fire Department.

“He loved it,” said Marcia Katz, his wife of 21 years, about her husband’s time with the FDNY. “He lived it. Breathed it. It didn’t matter that he was not a fireman.”

She described her husband and father of two as an optimistic man who was always helping people and who enjoyed everything that he did from work at the department to his time on the links.

Their daughter, Samantha, 14, and son, Michael, 10, are having a hard time dealing with his death, Marcia Katz said,

In November 2001, Katz was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a rare blood disease that affects the bone marrow and blood. She said her husband had a bone marrow transplant, which is the treatment, but the transplanted marrow did not take.

“It is very difficult, especially with Sept. 11,” she said. “We are happy the focus is off of this (his death).”

The community and the FDNY have been wonderful, she said, and her family has gotten tremendous support from the schools and city, which “has made a big difference.”

After serving in the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, where he was responsible for the day-to-day management of the capital budget, Katz joined the Fire Department as an administrative project coordinator and never looked back.

He worked his way up the ranks, said Marcia Katz, who met her husband in the Bahamas in 1979 when both of them were vacationing with groups of friends. Katz rose from project coordinator to project manager and director of buildings to assistant fire commissioner for support services and recently to deputy fire commissioner.

“Roy served the Fire Department for almost two decades and was instrumental in making dramatic changes that have benefited all 16,000 members of the FDNY, especially his management and supervision of new buildings, facilities and technological improvements,” said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. “He will be sorely missed and our hearts go out to his family, especially his wife and kids.”

Some of the notable projects that Katz worked on include the construction of a new FDNY headquarters in downtown Brooklyn, the transfer of Fort Totten, a new $50 million state-of-the-art training facility at Randall’s Island and the renovation of scores of firehouses, EMS stations and communication dispatch centers.

“There are so many things about him to remember,” Marcia Katz said. “He focused on his children; they were the most important thing in his life.”

Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.