FDNY brother from 9/11 dies of cancer
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The Foley brothers, Tommy and Danny, also were FDNY brethren. Both are gone, victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Daniel Foley, 46, of New Rochelle, New York, died Saturday.
His death was attributed to pancreatic cancer related to the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Danny spent days searching for his broth- er, Thomas. Tommy, a volunteer firefighter, was part of Rescue Co. 3 in the South Bronx. His body was found 10 days later. He was 32.
Danny, the younger brother, joined Rescue Co. 3, where Tommy last served. The company lost eight members, including Tommy, on 9/11.
Now the family and the FDNY mourns another loss of life from 9/11.
“It’s continuing to affect people and their families through every kind of illness,” said Carrie Benedict Foley, Daniel’s widow. “Nineteen, 18 years later, you find you have cancer.”
Daniel was diagnosed Feb. 24, 2019, Carrie said.
The Foleys were at the White House on July 29, 2019, when President Donald Trump signed the bill extending aid to those who became ill after the rescue and recovery efforts at the sites of the terror attacks, including Shanksville, Pennsylvania; the Pentagon; and the area around the World Trade Center in Manhattan, which was engulfed in a toxic swirl of dust and debris.
As of December 2019, the death toll from 9/11-related illnesses was at 2,691, according to the World Trade Center Health Program. The attacks in 2001 killed 2,977 people, 2,606 in lower Manhattan.
Besides his wife, Carrie, Daniel Foley is survived by his children: Erin, 17; Kiera, 15; Brianne, 14; Kendall, 7; and Thomas “TJ” Foley, 6. He is also survived by his sister, Joanne Foley, co-director of a 2010 documentary about her brother, “Tommy Foley: Legacy of a Young Hero.”
Daniel Foley joined the FDNY in 1998.