Honorees

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Year Honored
2014
Honoree
John Wyatt
Title
Paramedic
Agency
Fire Department of New York - Bureau of EMS
Agency City
Brooklyn
Agency State
New York
Last Call
9/24/2013
Cause of Death
9/11 Illness
Biography
Mr. Wyatt graduated from Montclair High School in 1972 and attended the Manhattan School of Music from 1973 to 1975, studying clarinet in the Bachelor of Music program. He later earned a bachelor's degree from Montclair State College. John's love of medicine came while working at Cameron Animal Hospital, continuing for many years as a volunteer at Montclair Volunteer Ambulance. In 1983 he joined the New York City Emergency Medical Service. He would spend the next 25 years as a paramedic, working for the Fire Department of New York, and serving all five boroughs of the city. John was an avid photographer and spent many summers exploring Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Wyoming, and Arcadia National Park. Whether traveling by his jeep, his canoe, or on foot, he could often be found camping in the woods of Maine, or fly fishing along an icy cold river, or on the open road on his Harley-Davidson. On the morning of September 11, 2001 John responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center. He spent 7 more weeks working with search and rescue teams in an effort to recover his coworkers and other victims not knowing the poisons he was being exposed to. In November 2007, he was diagnosed with cancer in one kidney. The organ was removed, and follow-up treatment seemingly worked. John, however, decided to retire from the Fire Department in August 2008. In 2012 cancer returned and attacked his spine confining John to a wheelchair. After a long-fought battle John succumbed to his illness on Tuesday, September 24, 2013.