Native Staten Islander Michael N. Fodor "spent his whole life devoted to his children and his family," said his wife of 28 years, Deborah Nelson Fodor. In early September, their older son, Michael, 23, was working on his master's degree; younger son, Andrew, 22, had recently graduated from the State University of New York, Oneonta, and their daughter, Ashley, 16, had begun her junior year in high school.
"He was hoping to help Michael with his master's," said Mrs. Fodor. "Andrew had just graduated; Michael was thrilled and now he was focusing on Ashley's future."
Devotion to his family also entered into his decision to move to Warwick, N.Y., in farm-studded Orange County.
"The happiest time of his life was when we came up to Orange County," said his wife. "He felt that he was doing the best thing for his family. He just loved the country. He felt that, 'If I have kids, I have to share this with them,' " she said.
The move significantly lengthened his commute, a sacrifice he happily embraced for the good of his family.
"He always thought of us first and we always felt very safe with him," said Mrs. Fodor.
>From his earliest days, Mr. Fodor displayed a passion for discovery. As a teen-ager, he regularly traveled alone to Canal Street in Manhattan to buy Bunsen burners and other equipment for chemistry experiments done in his basement laboratory. He managed to blow out the basement's windows — the budding chemist's rite of passage — with one experiment.
Born in Travis, Mr. Fodor moved to Eltingville as a child with his family. He and his wife moved to Westerleigh in 1974 and relocated to Warwick in 1985.
He was a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout, and graduated from Tottenville High School as a member of the Arista honor society. He studied chemical engineering, math and science at the University of Maryland at College Park in 1968 and 1969, and at the former Richmond College in 1969 and 1970.
Mr. Fodor was a firefighter for 29 years, starting at Engine Co. 92 in the South Bronx in 1973. He was transferred to Ladder Co. 21 in Manhattan when he was promoted to lieutenant in 1985. Now, he is among the missing in the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
"This is a man who would help anybody under any circumstances," said his wife. "It's very difficult to explain these firefighters. It's just something that they do without expecting any thank you or acknowledgement."
His leisure time was also spent helping others. He was a former assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 38 in Warwick. He often helped at his children's schools, and he was a member of the Monroe Chester Sportsmen's Club.
He also loved to read "anything and everything," said his wife.
"He had a passion for reading and buying books," she said, an interest he tried to convey to his children. "For Christmas he would give my daughter a book that was inscribed at least 100 years ago."
Staten Island Advance, 2001