September 11 emergency responder Joseph Zadroga dies at 76

Joseph C. Zadroga, whose lobbying work helped provide health benefits to thousands of first responders whose health was compromised by inhaling dust and debris at Ground Zero after the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center — though his efforts came too late for his own son , a New York City detective – died Saturday after being struck by a car in Pomona, NJ. He was 76.

His death was confirmed by his son Joseph F. Zadroga.

Early Saturday afternoon, the elderly Mr. Zadroga was visiting his wife at the Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation. According to Galloway Township police, he was standing outside his parked car when he was struck by an SUV that apparently accidentally accelerated and pinned him underneath. He was pronounced dead at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center.

A retired police chief from North Arlington, NJ, Mr. Zadroga was instrumental in Congress's 2010 passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which provides federal medical benefits, including monitoring and treatment, to police officers and firefighters. and medical workers who fell ill as a result of their exposure to the pollutants in the aftermath of the 2001 destruction in Lower Manhattan. Mr. Zadroga and others successfully urged Congress to reauthorize the legislation in 2015.

The death of his son James was the first death of a government official officially linked by an autopsy to an emergency worker's time at Ground Zero.

James Zadroga died in 2006, at the age of 34, after spending some 500 hours restoring what became known as the Pile. By the following May, after sifting through the rubble for human remains, workers had removed 1.8 million tons of tangled wreckage. He eventually became eligible for a disability pension.

His death came a year after his wife, Rhonda, died of a heart attack, leaving him to raise their 4-year-old daughter, Tyler Ann. She was an orphan when he died and brought her a baby bottle, and she was raised by his parents, his brother and his sister-in-law.

“I just want everyone out there, the victims who got sick, to get the health care they deserve because Jimmy didn't get it,” Joseph Zadroga said at a 2014 rally.

Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, the largest union of police officers in New York City, said in a statement: “Joseph Zadroga took on a fight that no father should have to face. But he fought with incredible courage for his hero son, helping every responder on September 11.”

After his son died, Mr. Zadroga was invited by Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Manhattan Democrat, to testify before Congress, and he helped lead a national campaign for health care legislation that was supported by comedian and talk show host Jon Stewart and others . celebrities.

In his testimony, Ms. Zadroga quoted from a letter from his son: “Everyone praises the dead as heroes, as they should, but there are more living beings who suffer than the dead.”

The Ocean County coroner originally found that James Zadroga died of “respiratory failure” due to a “history of exposure to toxic fumes and dust.”

But about a year and a half later, New York City's chief medical examiner, Charles S. Hirsch, concluded that the particles in his lungs were the result of prescription drug abuse. (His family said that if he had been taking painkillers it was because he was finding it increasingly painful to breathe.) A third opinion, from Dr. Michael Baden, who had been the city's chief medical examiner in the late 1970s, supported the original coroner's opinion. find.

The conflicting opinions prompted Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who rejected Dr. Hirsch signed off saying, “We wanted to have a hero, and there are plenty of heroes. Only in this case, science says this was not a hero.” The mayor later apologized, saying, “I believe James Zadroga was a hero for the way he lived, regardless of the way he died.”

James Zadroga is not listed on the 9/11 memorial.

Joseph Charles Zadroga was born on April 2, 1947 in Newark. His father, Charles, worked for RCA. His mother, Ann (Czyc) Zadroga, managed the household.

After graduating from North Arlington High School, Joseph earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from William Paterson College (now William Paterson University) in Wayne, NJ, and a master's degree in emergency management from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He served in the Army in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968.

In addition to his wife, Linda (Baczewski) Zadroga, and his son, Mr. Zadroga is survived by his sister, Paula Bates, and two grandchildren.

Joseph Zadroga worked for the North Arlington Police Department from 1970 to 1997, when he retired as chief. He later taught at the Bergen County Police Academy. Tattooed on his forearm was a crucifix, his son's name and the words “Not Forgotten.”

“Joe turned his son's tragedy into something that really helped so many people,” said Michael Barasch, James Zadroga's attorney. northjersey.comadding that James “didn't die in vain, because of the autopsy his parents requested.”

“Without that,” he said, “we would never have had the evidence to move Congress to action.”