On February 23, 2021, the FDNY lost another beloved member due to a September 11-related illness with the passing of Dennis A. Farrell.

Born on November 12, 1962, Dennis was a graduate of North Rockland High School’s Class of 1980. He attended St. Thomas Aquinas College and later received a nursing degree from Orange County Community College.

Dennis came from a long line of firefighters with his father, brothers, uncles, and cousins serving on the job. In 1990, after serving six years as a New York City correction officer at Rikers Island, he joined the FDNY. He called Ladder Company 59 in The Bronx his “home away from home” for 12 years until his retirement in 2002. Dennis’s years with the FDNY were among the best in his life, and this was where his fellow firefighters became his brothers. The firehouse also helped cultivate his passion for cooking, for which everyone around him was thankful.

He was an outdoorsman who loved fishing, hunting, and camping. He spent his life in service to others and was involved in numerous fundraising activities. Specifically, Dennis was a tireless supporter of St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven charity that supports research to find cures for childhood cancer. He was the running captain of his team, and he often lent his time and culinary skills for fundraising events throughout the year.

A devoted and loving husband, father, son, brother, uncle, Grumpa, and friend, Dennis was kind and generous, gentle and fun, loving and honorable—a man who loved and lived life fully and is missed by many. If you were fortunate enough to know Dennis, hopefully you can still hear his contagious laugh or recall a precious memory.

Dennis’s final act of selfless generosity was that of an organ donor. Life as we knew it is forever changed, but we take great comfort knowing he rests in God’s “perfect peace.”