Officer Donald A. Foreman

PAPD

Officer Foreman's Act of Heroism

Over 400 first responders lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Heroically performing their sworn duty, these firefighters, members of the NYPD and PAPD, and numerous other rescue workers will forever be remembered for their sacrifice.

My Hero

He died while responding to the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center.

Letters

The picnic was intended for Port Authority police officers assigned to the PATH system. Technically, Officer Donald Foreman was assigned to the Holland Tunnel, but he was welcome anyway. Donald Foreman was always welcome.

He had spent 29 years with the Port Authority, working for many of those years as a captain's clerk, which meant he did a lot of the nuts-and-bolts administrative tasks for a superior. According to a plaque on a wall at the Holland Tunnel offices, he served 15 consecutive captains, according to his last, Robert Sbarra. "If he could work for 15 captains without anyone trying to remove him, he must have done his job extremely well."

But Mr. Foreman, 53, had a full life outside, with a large extended family and volunteer duties that included running the youth sports program for his Roman Catholic parish, Immaculate Conception, on Staten Island. He was also a strict vegetarian, but that hardly kept him from that picnic, a hamburger-and-frankfurter feast on the Jersey Shore.

"I do remember giving him French fries," recalled his companion, Cheryl Cooper-Foreman. "He loved French fries."

And Ms. Cooper-Foreman and Captain Sbarra both remember this: Donald Foreman playing basketball with kids young enough to be his grandchildren.

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 25, 2001.
Information courtesy of the Remember 9/11/2001 memorial site on legacy.com