Buck, Greg

Greg Buck, Eng.201 STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Greg Buck was an accomplished woodworker, registered nurse, classical pianist and cook — and that was before he joined the Fire Department in 1995. He had graduated from nursing school and attended the Culinary Institute. He played the piano so well he could have been a professional musician, his wife said. And when Mr. Buck and his father restored the family home in Huguenot, the two were recognized for their work by the Preservation League of Staten Island. Mr. Buck, 37, a Huguenot resident, had taken the Fire Department test years earlier, but was ready for another challenge when the department called in 1995. A firefighter with Engine Co. 201 in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, he has been missing since the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center. Among his many talents, lending an ear to friends and family was one of his best, said his wife, the former Catherine Morrison. “He could listen well, which I think is a talent not too many people have,” said Mrs. Buck, a nurse practitioner. “He always appeared to be very quiet, but he was very special. He just smiled all the time. He was warm.” The two met in the early 1990s when they were both attending nursing school at the College of Staten Island. Two months after they graduated together in 1995, Mr. Buck joined the Fire Department. They married two years ago and were in the midst of planning a family and buying their first home on Brady’s Pond in Grasmere when the Sept. 11 attacks turned their lives upside down. Two weeks ago, Mrs. Buck closed on the 1940s home she and her husband fell in love with. “He was in the thick of making plans to restore it,” she said this week. He had plenty of experience. As a young man, Mr. Buck helped his father renovate the family home on Jefferson Boulevard in Annadale. Mr. Buck and his father later restored the family’s second house, an 1880s Victorian on Huguenot Avenue. They were honored by the Preservation League for that work, which involved stripping and renovating the columned porch and restoring the chestnut-trimmed interior staircase. Father and son ran their own woodworking and cabinetry business before Mr. Buck decided to go to nursing school. He graduated from nursing school with honors in 1995 and served as master of ceremonies during the commencement. He also graduated second in his Fire Academy class. Mr. Buck took piano lessons for a number of years and especially enjoyed playing and listening to classical music. He often played at friends’ weddings, said his wife. “No matter what he did or took on, he always excelled at it,” said Mike Conroy, a friend and fellow firefighter in Engine 201. When Greg Buck returned to Engine 201 after completing a rotation through other firehouses, Conroy said, he built a humidor for the captain and firefighters who liked cigars. Conroy said it was a custom wood laminated gift, with Engine 201’s logo, the Emerald Isle Fighting Irishmen, carved on the top. A graduate of Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, Mr. Buck also attended the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, N.Y. Born in Brooklyn, he was 16 when his family moved to Annadale. He also lived in Huguenot and Manhattan before moving back to Huguenot. In addition to his wife, Catherine, Mr. Buck is survived by his parents, Ernst and Josephine Buck, and his brother, Eric. The funeral will be Friday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a service at 11 a.m. in St. Paul’s Memorial Episcopal Church, Stapleton.