A pair of Queens brothers, a retired FDNY captain, shared a lifelong bond – and died less than two weeks from coronavirus.
Nicholas and Ralph Gismondi were “big family men” who were so dear that neighbors put up banners praising them when they died in an epidemic, CNN said in a report on Sunday.
Ralph Gismondi, 68, retired from the Fire Department as a captain and was the first FDNY employee to respond to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
He was working as a flight attendant at JetBlue Airlines on March 17 when he came down with a cough, fever and shortness of breath.
Two days later, he and his wife Ann – who knew each other since they were teenagers – tested positive for the virus.
He died on April 5 of complications from coronavirus.
“I couldn’t do a funeral for him,” Ann Gismondi told CNN. “I don’t have it, you know, close it. It was just a nightmare. “
Nicholas Gismondi, 65, did not learn about his older brother’s death until he was hospitalized with the virus himself.
Known to friends as “Poppy”, Nicholas Gismondi was a baseball player at Monsignor McClancy High School before studying arithmetic.
His son Christopher told the outlet that his father was “someone who always wanted to turn the lemon of life into lemon water.”
Nicholas moved to Westfield, NJ three decades ago, becoming a pillar of the community that earned him the name. Nick
“It was very important to volunteer and give back to the community,” his wife, Mary Jane, told CNN.
On March 31, the couple came down with coronavirus symptoms and went to the hospital, where they were diagnosed.
Just 18 days later – 12 days after his brother’s death – he also died of the virus.
The siblings are survived by a sister and her parents, ich 96-year-old Nicholas and Joseph Joseph.
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