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Funeral for Long Island 9-11 hero

Photo courtesy of the Stillitano family and the NYPD

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(Center Moriches, NY) — There is a funeral today for 9-11 hero, Joseph Stillitano. He was an NYPD cop who worked at ground zero after the 2001 attacks, and then more than a decade later came down with 9-11 related cancer. He passed away last week. Sunday was his wake. A funeral mass will be held for Stillitano today at St. John The Evangelist Church in Center Moriches. He was just 62-years-old.

Family members say the NYPD gave the former officer a ambulance ride home from the hospital last week, so he could spend his final days with friends and family in the comfort of his Center Moriches house. Family and friends were outside to welcome him home. Stillitano retired from the NYPD in 2002, and came down with esophageal cancer about ten years later. The cancer spread to his lungs. Stillitano’s children say he loved his Italian heritage, playing Italian music and making Italian food in their home.