...and Babe Ruth played baseball

May you build a ladder to the stars, 

And climb on every rung. 

May you stay forever young. 

- "Forever Young"

Bob Dylan

Battalion Chief John J. Fanning

Chief, FDNY Hazardous Materials Unit

John "Jack" Fanning joined the FDNY on October 4, 1969.  To put that into some type of historical context, his first day on the job occurred one week prior to Game One of the 1969 World Series, in which the underdog New York Mets would blow out the Baltimore Orioles in five games.  

He was the father of five, including two sons, Sean and Patrick (fourteen and five respectively at the time of his death), from his second marriage to his wife Maureen who are autistic.  In the summer of 2001, Maureen asked Jack what he would do if he ever won the lottery jackpot.  He told her he would pay off some bills and build a home for autistic kids.  Jack Fanning never lived to realize that dream.  Maureen did, however, and she made it into a reality.  Almost two decades after his death, the Jack Fanning Memorial Foundation is still going strong. 

John Fanning became a Battalion Chief in 1994.  As the man who ran the FDNY's Hazardous Materials Unit, he spent his career running headlong into hell.  In 1993, he responded to the first World Trade Center bombing.  In 1995, when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Chief Fanning was among the members of the FDNY who responded.  He was a recognized expert on terrorism and played a critical role in developing the FDNY's response to terrorist incidents.  

In the course of his three-plus-decade career in the FDNY, Chief Fanning earned numerous medals including three Medals of Valor.  He worked in all five boroughs.  Chief Fanning had two sons, Ryan and Jeremy, and one daughter, Jacqueline, from his first marriage.  Shortly before his death, he had e-mailed Jacqueline to tell her that he wanted their father/daughter dance at her April 2002 wedding to be Bob Dylan's "Forever Young".  

-AK