Firefighter Ray Phillips, 64, a retired FDNY firefighter from the elite Rescue 3 unit, who played Santa Claus for 30 years for children of firefighters killed in the line of duty, has died of 9/11-related illness reports Thomas Tracy in the New York Daily News.
Firefighter Phillips died this weekend after a very bad asthma attack triggered a heart attack. His asthma was contracted at the World Trade Center site during the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
A particularly well-known, well-loved and charitable man, Ray Phillips leaves a wife and three children, one of whom is an NYPD officer.
