Thomas A. Gardner: Of Science and
of Laughter
Like
a tree, or a starfish, Thomas A. Gardner reached in many
different directions.
He was a 39-year-old firefighter who spent more than a
dozen years battling blazes in Harlem, then moved on to
the city's elite hazardous-materials unit in Queens.
He was a father and husband who taught his family to
love canoeing and hiking and animals the way he did. He
was an aspiring science teacher, who put himself through
Queens College while working full time at that Harlem
firehouse. He could wing one-liners with the best of
them, and sold jokes to Henny Youngman and Joan
Rivers.
He also played hockey for a Long Island team, with his
older brother, Joseph. And with a fellow firefighter from
Hazardous Materials Company No. 1, he performed in a
comedy routine broadcast on a Long Island radio
station.
"Originally, he was supposed to sit in the back and
pass ideas along," said his wife, Liz. But sitting in the
back was not his style.
At Queens College, his professors were amazed by his
inquisitiveness and enthusiasm. "He had this intense
curiosity about all the aspects of science," said one of
them, Mark G. Miksic. At one point, they invited him to
lecture, and he was a hit. Now the college has the Thomas
A. Gardner Award, for students planning to teach
science.
"There are a lot of people who are full of themselves,
but Tom was never full of himself," said Rob Koudelka,
his friend from Engine Company 59, known as the Harlem
Zoo. "He never thought he was the smartest guy. He wanted
to become smarter. And he never thought he was the best
at anything. He wanted to get better."
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