DEER PARK, N.Y. (1010 WINS) – A Long Island father is being remembered as a hero after he tragically died saving the lives of a woman and her son while on a family vacation in Bermuda.
Jamie Lambros, 48, of Deer Park, died on Oct. 7 while rescuing the mother and her 10-year-old boy at Horseshoe Bay Beach.
Lambros was on a cruise with 11 of his family members and out on an excursion to the beach when he saw the pair struggling in the water.
He rushed to help them, saving their lives while losing his own.
“I knew he was gone, because I felt it, I felt it in my heart,” his brother, Joey Pappas, told 1010 WINS. “He was like my other half.”
Pappas wasn’t surprised his brother died a hero.
“He was the most courageous, fearless and also sensitive person I have known,” he said. “He was the pillar of our whole family, he was the everything of our whole family.”
He said the gut-wrenching loss has devastated everyone, especially their mother: “That was her best friend.”
The family is warning other tourists to be aware of the dangers at Horseshoe Bay Beach, a popular place for cruise excursions, saying there weren't enough safety precautions in place, including emergency crews who were able to respond in time.
"We want to make a GoFundMe to get a rescue ski out there in Jamie's honor and call it 'Jamie's Rescue.' We want change, because we don't want no one to ever have this feeling, because this feeling is so gut-wrenching."
Lambros’ wake is being held Friday and Saturday at Branch Funeral Homes of Commack, while his funeral is scheduled for Oct. 19.
In a statement on a GoFundMe page, his family said in part, “Jamie was so much more than a son, brother, uncle, cousin, godfather and friend—he was the life of every party, someone whose laughter filled any room, and whose heart was as big as his spirit. His loss leaves an unimaginable void in all our lives.”