Westhampton man honored for saving boater

Almost two years ago, Jonathan Pearlroth stood outside his Westhampton Beach home with a decision to make.

Hundreds of yards away, in the choppy waters off Moriches Inlet, a man was yelling for help.

John Signer of Holbrook had been fishing alone when he fell overboard without a life jacket. Forced to tread the 56-degree water for almost an hour, his legs were cramping and he was developing hypothermia, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Because of what happened next, Pearlroth, 51, stood Saturday at Coast Guard Station Shinnecock in Hampton Bays, the congressional Silver Lifesaving Medal hanging around his neck.

The same honor was bestowed upon Chester Nimitz and George S. Patton, but Pearlroth, in shorts and sandals, looked more sheepish than heroic.

"The truth is, it wasn't that big of a deal," he said at the ceremony. "Except the ocean was cold."

But Cmdr. Eric Doucette, chief of response for the Coast Guard's Long Island sector, said others that day had just watched as Signer nearly drowned.

Doucette looked at Pearlroth's kids -- Alina, 9, and Jesse, 4 -- and said, "It's really important for the children to understand how their father did get involved."

Pearlroth, a lawyer and real estate investor, remembered thinking how he'd feel if he just stood there on Oct. 22, 2009, witnessing a tragedy. "If I didn't jump in and save the guy and he died, I would have never forgiven myself," he said.

Instead, he yelled for someone to bring him a flotation device. When a neighbor handed him a pink boat fender, he dove in.

He reached Signer, then 45, and they clung on to the fender for a half-hour before a tow boat picked them up.

Pearlroth said Signer, a father of two, thanked him for saving his life. Signer's wife called him that night to thank him again.

Pearlroth's mother, Mitch Rein, 77, wasn't surprised by the act of heroism. He helps others, she said, volunteering at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cancer Support Community.

He's had his own brushes with death, Pearlroth said. Diagnosed with lymphoma at 26, he said he survived because of a bone-marrow transplant.

In 1993, he was working in the World Trade Center when terrorists set off a bomb in the parking garage at 12:17 p.m. He had parked nearby and it was his habit to fetch his gym bag at noon. That day, though, he was stuck on the phone.

"It's not like I believe there is a God who singled me out to save," he said. "My philosophy is I got lucky, but the question is, if you do get lucky, what good can you turn that into?"