East Meadow remembers Nelson Finkelman

Finkelman, a past chief of the EMFD and a 56-year volunteer, also served in the United States Navy.

Courtesy East Meadow Fire Department

East Meadow Fire Department volunteers displayed Finkelman's uniform outside of Ladder 2, his firehouse for 56 years.

Bill Kelly/Herald

East Meadow Fire Department volunteers stood solemnly outside the East Meadow Avenue firehouse last Friday, as they paid their respects to Nelson Finkelman, a 56-year department veteran who died on Oct. 2.

Bill Kelly/Herald

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Hundreds of people gathered at East Meadow Fire Department headquarters on East Meadow Avenue last Friday to remember Nelson H. Finkelman, a 56-year veteran of the East Meadow Fire Department, who died on Oct. 2 at the Nassau University Medical Center of complications of a stroke. He was 83.

It was standing-room-only in firehouse’s community room, as volunteer firefighters, family members, friends and admirers of Finkelman honored a man who devoted most of his life to fire service.

Finkelman, born Feb. 11, 1930, joined the East Meadow department in 1958 as a member of Ladder Company 2, and he rose to chief of department in 1967. He was a Nassau County fire marshal supervisor, a chief instructor at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy and a board member and fundraiser for the Nassau County Firefighters’ Burn Center Foundation, which supports the Nassau University Medical Center’s burn unit. He also served in the U.S. Navy.

Rabbi Mark Greenspan, the department chaplain, began the service by saying that he had recently spoke with Gloria Finkelman, Nelson’s wife of 62 years, who told him that her husband was “bigger than life.”

“Just last night, I learned how true that statement was,” Greenspan said. At an East Meadow Kiwanis Club meeting on Oct. 3, he said, “There wasn’t a single person there who didn’t have a story to tell about Nelson, and who didn’t smile when I mentioned his name.”

Greenspan said that Finkelman’s hobbies included community theater, comedy and cooking, but his life was consumed by his two biggest loves: “One was his family,” Greenspan said. “And the other was fire service. He breathed, he probably dreamed about, the fire department.”

Lori Finkelman, one of Nelson and Gloria’s four children, spoke about her childhood. “Growing up, kids went to the movies …,” she said. ‘We went to Signal-10s.”

Fighting through tears, Lori echoed her mother’s words about people’s memories of her father. “To meet my dad,” she said, “means to have a story. A funny, really great story.”