Firemen and police honor Daniel C. Pignataro

Firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians lined up outside St. Raymond’s Roman Catholic Church on July 18 to pay their respects and salute the memory of Daniel C. Pignataro, an emergency medical technician with the Nassau County Police Emergency Ambulance Bureau, and a member and former chief of the East Rockaway Fire Department. Pignataro died of cancer on July 13. He was 46.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder also attended the funeral to pay their respects.

As part of it, the Nassau County Police Motorcycle Unit led the procession from St. Raymond’s to St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, where he was buried. As they drove by, 14 fire departments flew their flags over the roadways, using 28 ladder companies from both Nassau and Suffolk County fire departments.

Pignataro joined the ERFD in 1992 and was a member of Grant Avenue Hose Company No. 1. He served as the chief of the department in 2003, and was also an EMT-CC for the ERFD and Nassau County Police Department for the past 21 years.

He was the eldest of six boys, four of whom joined the ERFD. His firefighter brothers include former Captain Matthew Pignataro, former Captain Andrew Pignataro and current Third Assistant Chief Dominic Pignataro. All are members of Grant Avenue Hose 1.

Pignataro, who lived in Oceanside, is remembered by his wife, Patty; daughter Emily; and son, Daniel.