Luis Alvarez, a retired New York Police Department bomb squad detective who fought for ailing 9/11 first responders before Congress, died on Saturday at a hospice in New York. He was 53.
Earlier in June, Alvarez, who developed cancer years after working at Ground Zero, delivered what The Washington Post called a "heartbreaking plea to Congress" to extend the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which provides financial assistance to first responders who developed illnesses.
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"I should not be here with you, but you made me come," he said during the hearing. "You made me come because I will not stand by and watch as my friends with cancer from 9/11 like me are valued less than anyone else."
Alvarez is survived by his wife, three children, mother, and two brothers. Tim O'Donnell
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