Outgoing FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker lauded at walk-out ceremony

Applause, laudatory speeches and a valedictory ride on a sirens-blazing fire truck sent off outgoing FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker on Friday, as the Adams mayoralty draws to a close.

Tucker, the city’s 35th fire commissioner, announced last month he would not seek to remain commissioner under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, with whom Tucker disagrees on a range of issues, including Israel. Mamdani has not announced a replacement, but Mark Guerra, Tucker's first deputy, will be acting commissioner until Mamdani's pick is sworn in.

In Brooklyn, hundreds gathered at the FDNY’s headquarters Friday afternoon to fête Tucker, who was appointed in August 2024 to oversee the department's 17,000 firefighters, medics and other employees.

“I know my leaving has raised many questions. It was a difficult and deeply personal decision, and not an easy one, but it was the right one for me,” Tucker said in remarks before a ceremonial walk-out through a gauntlet of flags and into the fire truck.

Tucker, a philanthropist and self-described "fire buff” who previously led the private investigation firm T&M USA, was never a firefighter. He told CBS News last month that he and Mamdani don't align “ideologically … on some very fundamental things to me."

Mamdani, an avowed supporter of the Palestinian cause, has said he believes that Israel, like other nations, should be a country of equal rights for all. Tucker, who is Jewish and a Zionist, believes Israel should remain a Jewish state.

Tucker declined to comment Friday on Mamdani's position on Israel, and the pair's disagreements were not mentioned at the ceremony, which lasted more than an hour and included tears, heartfelt words and a roast.

Among those hailing Tucker was FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Brosi, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association union.

“The reason I believe I was asked to speak is because we’ve almost never not been on the same page about what was in the best interest of the members, their families and the department,” Brosi said.

Tucker was one of Mayor Eric Adams’ two fire commissioners, neither of whom had been firefighters.

Modern New York City mayors typically replace certain agency commissioners with their own appointees, including to run the fire department, and it’s unclear whether Mamdani would have kept Tucker on even if he wanted to stay.

Before Tucker, Adams installed Laura Kavanagh as his first fire commissioner, bypassing Dan Nigro, a veteran firefighter who had been Mayor Bill de Blasio’s fire commissioner. Nigro replaced fellow veteran firefighter Sal Cassano, who had been Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s fire commissioner.

Cassano and Nigro attended Friday's event.

Tucker is the grandson of the late Richard Tucker, an American operatic tenor and a cantor who was associated with the Metropolitan Opera.

On Friday, as Tucker exited FDNY headquarters and walked toward the fire truck, his father, Barry, told him: “Mazel tov.”