Rodney “Rod” Herris, dies at 75

If you were looking for leftovers the day after a party at the Woodmere firehouse, odds were you’d be out of luck. Rodney “Rod” Herris was a member of the fire department for more than 50 years, and according to other firefighters he would regularly wrap up and donate leftover food, leaving an empty fridge, but no empty stomachs.

Herris died on May 6, at 75, and in lieu of flowers he and his wife, Pat, had requested that those who wished to pay their respects donate non-perishable food items. “Even in his death he gave,” Pat said. “It was amazing, 113 bags and 11 boxes of food, all sent down to the [Far Rockaway Mission at the United Methodist Center in Far Rockaway.”]

Rod and Pat did similar things on their birthdays in the past. “We were blessed and needed nothing, so we began asking for donations,” she said. “It started as a joke. We would ask for donations at parties, and since this would be our last party … We just thought about how much food could be bought with the money that would be spent on flowers.”

He grew up in Lynbrook and lived in Hewlett for a few years. Herris then bought a home in Woodmere in 1971. Considered an extraordinary handy man, Herris used his skills gained at the Long Island Lighting Company to not only rebuild his and his wife’s new home, but to also help his neighbors.

Nancy Adams-Love lived next to the Herris’ for 43 years, and had known Rod since she was 3. “He was always there to help,” she said. “He really was one of a kind.”

Herris fixed boilers every winter for anyone who asked. “I considered him a living angel,” said Ray Grawin, a former chief of the Woodmere Fire Department who knew Herris for 46 years. “After fixing your boiler in a half hour you’d then have to sit and talk to him for three hours,” he joked. “He loved to talk to people.”

The firehouse, along with the mission and Friendlier Pizza in Woodmere, were like family, according to Pat. Mike Sauer spent 21 years on the same truck company as Herris and the two had become very close over the years. “I’d do anything for Rod because he would do anything for anyone,” Sauer said. “There’s going to be a lot cold people and a lot of hungry people without him this winter.”

His permanent smile and his consistent kindness were noted in every story told about Herris. He was giving until the end, responding to fire calls and repairing boilers even as heart issues caused him to regularly experience shortness of breath, “There is nothing bad you could ever say about this man,” Pat said. “And I was married to him,” she added with a laugh.

Besides Pat, he is survived by two sons, Gerry and Robert, as well as his seven grandchildren, Missy, Thomas, Mikey, Amanda, Terence, Kristin and Gregory, and Raymond, his great-grandson.

Herris was named an honorary chief, and was given a chief’s funeral on May 10. There will be a memorial service at St. James United Methodist Church in Lynbrook on June 10 at 4 p.m. Pat said that she hopes that other people may be inspired and follow their lead in requesting donations. “If just one other person follows suit,” she said. “Then we’ve done our jobs.”