Victor J. Navarra was a retired New York Fire Department lieutenant who coordinated the starts of the last 26 New York City Marathon

New York City Marathon

The New York City Marathon is a major annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is one of the largest marathons in the world, with 45,103 finishers in 2010...

 Races.

Early life and career

Navarra was born in the summer of 1952, he joined the Staten Island Athletic Club as a teenager. In 1976 he performed volunteer work for the marathon. He spent 21 years in the Fire Department, 10 of those as a lieutenant with Ladder Company 35 at 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. He retired in 1997, but he volunteered at the firehouse and participated in the search for survivors at the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

 site after the attacks of Sept 11, 2001.

Marathon Work

In 1982 he officially started to coordinate the start of the race. He held the position for the last 26 marathons. Coordinating the few hours before the event, between the time the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected upper bay with the larger lower bay....

is closed to traffic and the start of the race, typically takes a year of planning.

He also helped organize marathons throughout the country. He was credited with devising the now-standard system for kicking off a major marathon.

On the 2007 New York Marathon Navarra sat next to the starting line as his wife and daughter took care of his duties.

Death

On the 30 December 2007 Navarra died at age 55. The cause was cancer of the sinus, which was diagnosed in 2005. He attributed his cancer to airborne toxins present at the site of the World Trade Center when he helped with the search. He is survived by his wife and two adult daughters.