Neil Leavy, Eng.217 Neil Leavy, Class of 1985 Neil Leavy grew up in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Staten Island. He was a parishioner at St. Roch’s and played baseball as a child in the West Shore Little League. Although slight of build, Neil was exceptionally strong and athletic. He also had a keen mind which he focused on finance. Always a hard worker, Neil worked throughout his high school years at Schaffer’s Tavern and saved his money for a college education and the purchase of his dream car. After graduating from Farrell in 1985, Neil attended the University of Central Florida to study business. He continued his hardworking, self-sufficient ways as he worked nights and weekends in the restaurant industry to pay for his education. Neil returned to New York to finish school while working at the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was during this time that Neil received the call from the FDNY and he decided to follow a family tradition of working toward public safety like his policeman father and firefighter uncle and cousins. Upon graduating from the Fire Academy in 1998, Neil was assigned to Engine 217 in Brooklyn. He would latter work in two other houses, all the while gaining the reputation for being an excellent firefighter with keen intellect, wry wit and a strength that outsized his physical stature. On September 11, 2001, Firefighter Neil Leavy responded to the emergency call at the World Trade Center with Engine 217. Leavy and his unit assisted in the rescue and evacuation of numerous civilians in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. Neil Leavy was killed when the South Tower collapsed. He is survived by his parents John and Ann and his brother Mark.
