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FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker exits FDNY Headquarters at 9 Metro Tech Center in Brooklyn on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\nThe FDNY bid farewell to Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker with a walkout ceremony at the department\u2019s Downtown Brooklyn HQ on Friday.<\/p>\n
Firefighters lining the entrance to the department\u2019s Metrotech Center headquarters near Tech Place saluted as their erstwhile commander passed an FDNY color guard and boarded a fire engine that ferried him to retirement shortly after 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinarily special day for me and my family,\u201d Tucker told reporters at his farewell event. \u201cThe love that I have felt for the FDNY for the last nearly 16\u00a0 months is felt by them also.<\/p>\n
FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker exits FDNY Headquarters at 9 Metro Tech Center in Brooklyn on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to remember they had a commissioner who had their backs and who cared deeply about their safety and cared about the safety of the people of the City of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker was among the first high-ranking appointees working under Mayor Adams<\/a> to step down in response to Zohran Mamdani\u2019s mayoral election victory<\/a> last month, tendering his resignation only 12 hours later.<\/p>\n Tucker, a proud Zionist, said he is the FDNY\u2019s second Jewish leader after Howard Safir. He previously cited Mamdani\u2019s criticisms of Israel \u2014 which the mayor-elect once described as an apartheid state,<\/a> and whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he has called for being arrested<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 as among the \u201cfundamental differences\u201d that motivated his hasty decision to resign.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are things that I have heard [Mamdani] say that would make it difficult for me to continue on in such a senior executive role,\u201d Tucker said in an interview with \u201cCBS Mornings,\u201d adding that his Jewish faith played a role in his decision to resign the day after Mamdani\u2019s victory at the polls.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a factor, no doubt,\u201d Tucker said about his faith. \u201cI don\u2019t want to tell you it\u2019s the only factor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a complicated emotional decision to leave,\u201d he added. \u201cBut ideologically there\u2019s no doubt that the mayor and I disagree on some very fundamental things to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite their differences, Tucker, at Friday\u2019s send-off, said he has no hard feelings for the incoming mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish the mayor-elect well,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cHis success is all of our success. I\u2019m available to him and anyone in the administration to help make certain that the trajectory of the FDNY continues the way it\u2019s going. I only hope that the best days of this department are ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Tucker was the first high-profile city official to resign in the wake of Mamdani\u2019s victory<\/a> over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa in November, he was not the last.<\/p>\n