NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Former NYPD Detective and 9/11 first responder Luis Alvarez was laid to rest on Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of friends, family and fellow officers came to pay their respects.
Fellow police officers saluted as Alvarez, who was 53, was brought into the church before 10 a.m.
He was carried out of the Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria in Queens, where the service was held, by pallbearers in police uniform.
Two fire engines outside the church held up a large American flag.
"Growing up I'd be told by family members that I was just like my dad," Alvarez's son David read in a eulogy. "I laugh like him, I smile like him. I walk like him. I'm quiet and stubborn like he was. I always took it as compliments hearing these things from people because I always looked up to my dad. I always wanted to be like him in any way I could."
Alvarez "believed strongly in the equality of all people," said NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill, "especially in political or social or economic life. As the world clearly saw recently, he actively and with trademark stubbornness promoted that belief until his dying day.
Alvarez's sister, Aida Lugo, also recited a eulogy, saying, "Little did my parents know that this single act of sacrifice would lay the groundwork for the man their son would become. A man who served, defended, protected until his last dying day."
Alvarez, who fought for 9/11 first responders, joined comedian Jon Stewart to push for the permanent extension of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Bill in front of Congress. The bill is still awaiting a full house vote.
Stewart was present at the funeral but declined to speak with reporters.
Alvarez is survived by his parents, wife, three sons and three siblings.
Alvarez was also mourned at a wake Tuesday evening.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was campaigning in Iowa and did not attend the service but said that he would be presenting Alvarez posthumously with a key to the city.
He died after a three-year battle with colorectal cancer, which he attributed to his three-month stint sorting through debris near Ground Zero.
"I knew this year after 68, 69 chemo treatments, I know this was the year he either turned the corner and we'd be fishing all summer, and traveling all summer, or it would go south on us," his brother Phil said, "we were so proud of him."
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