Firefighter Robert (Bobby) Hamilton epitomized a South Bronx fireman, friends and FDNY colleagues said. "Bobby Hamilton's whole career was in the South Bronx. He's the classic city fireman," said longtime friend and South Bronx resident Marty Rogers, 47. "Bobby kept the door [to the firehouse] open, and his heart was always open.
Rogers said Hamilton, 43, cut an impressive figure. He stood over 6 feet and was a strapping 230 pounds. Always ready with a bright smile, the square-jawed Hamilton would watch the block from a chair in front of the Squad 41 firehouse, a special operations unit on E. 150th St., said Rogers.
Hamilton was one of six firefighters from the elite outfit that perished during the terrorist attacks. "The whole company that day that responded to the Trade Center got killed," said Rogers. In between fires, Hamilton would fill the tires of bicycles belonging to local kids or place a sprinkler cap on a fire hydrant to cool them off on a hot summer day.
On Thanksgiving Day, he was known as the "yam man" over at Immaculate Conception Church in the South Bronx. "Bobby would cook yams for over 400 people," said Rogers, referring to a dinner for senior citizens and the homeless. "That was his job. The yams were good. It would be piping hot on 25 trays.
"Hamilton grew up on Forest Ave. in Ridgewood, Queens, and married his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth, 44, from Christ the King.
New York Daily News, 2001