{"id":181632,"date":"2026-04-01T01:14:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/181632\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T01:14:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:14:55","slug":"nyc-sanitation-worker-who-saved-family-from-fire-dies-at-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/181632\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC sanitation worker who saved family from fire dies at 81"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — At 3 a.m., on his wife\u2019s birthday, Robert Myers suffered a widow-maker heart attack. The medical professionals had to use a defibrillator on him. But that didn\u2019t stop him from making an important phone call from his hospital bed, to his wife, to sing her happy birthday. <\/p>\n

Myers was a devoted family man, and a dedicated worker. He passed away on March 19, at the age of 81. The cause of death was heart failure. <\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Myers (third from right) with his siblings.family archive<\/p>\n

He was born on April 17, 1944 in Brooklyn to James and Catherine Myers. His mother was a secretary for Merrill Lynch and his father worked in the purchasing area for the New York Stock Exchange as a vice president. He was the tenth out of a whopping 13 children. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis mom was his hero because she raised 13 children and went to church every single morning, all while having a full-time job,\u201d said his wife, Maureen Myers. <\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Myers (top row, second from right) with his siblings.family archive<\/p>\n

Myers attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School. \u201cHe loved working with his hands. He used to repair stoves and then he went to trade school, and that\u2019s when he became a hydraulic mechanic,\u201d Maureen Myers said. <\/p>\n

After high school, Myers joined the Merchant Marines to help support his family. In fact, he traveled the globe. \u201cHe helped the military move cargo from country to country,\u201d said his son, Robert Myers, Jr. <\/p>\n

\"RobertPictured are Robert Myers and Maureen Myers.family archive<\/p>\n

Myers returned home to live with his family in Brooklyn, while working as a hydraulic jack mechanic at Metro Hydraulic Jack Company.<\/p>\n

Living in his same building was Maureen (n\u00e9e Redar). She had a crush on him (he looked like Robert Redford) and would spy on him walking through the hallway from the peephole in her door. They both took the same train to work and one day, as they were getting off the subway, Myers asked her out. The pair dated for three years before getting married. They lived in Brooklyn, before moving to New Springville in 1984.<\/p>\n

Myers eventually got a job with the NYC Department of Sanitation, where he served for over 22 years. In that position, he committed acts of heroism. <\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Myers with Robert Myers, Jr.family archive<\/p>\n

One night, a little girl wandered out of her home in her nightgown. The temperature was freezing outside. She was lost and confused. Myers took responsibility for her, taking her around from house to house until she found her home. <\/p>\n

In another instance, Myers saved an entire family from a fire. \u201cHe was taking out garbage, and he saw that a house was on fire,\u201d Maureen Myers said. \u201cThe family was in their house and didn\u2019t realize the house was on fire, so he was able to get them out, and he saved their lives because he did that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Myers with Denise Schnell and Maureen Myers.family archive<\/p>\n

For that, Myers won the Bronze Medal of Honor from the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Sanitation. <\/p>\n

On the side, Myers launched his own business, Bob\u2019s Forklift Mechanic. <\/p>\n

He went to St. Patrick\u2019s Church every Sunday. He donated money to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, Wounded Warriors, and St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital. <\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Myers with Amber Barker and Maureen Myers.family archive<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved Staten Island and the sense of community there,\u201d Myers, Jr. said. <\/p>\n

More than anything, Myers loved his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the most amazing husband,\u201d Maureen Myers said. \u201cHe\u2019s the most selfless person I\u2019ve ever met my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Myers (top row second, from right) on his weddingfamily archive<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a jokester, but very caring,\u201d Myers, Jr. said. \u201cHe could be tough, but only because he wanted us to be the best that we possibly could.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to his wife, Myers is survived by his children, Denise Schnell, Dawn Cohen, and Robert Myers, seven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — At 3 a.m., on his wife\u2019s birthday, Robert Myers suffered a widow-maker heart attack.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-181632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}