In Memory of

John J. Brant

July 19, 2018

Obituary

Another hero to the growing list of first responders killed by 9/11-related illnesses.  A Port Authority Police Department lieutenant died this week from inhaling toxic dust at Ground Zero, officials said. 

Retired Port Authority Police Lt. John Brant, 61, died Thursday in a hospice, relatives said. The avid baseball player and athlete who ran the New York City Marathon three times was diagnosed with esophageal and stomach cancer on Memorial Day weekend. A month and a half later, he was gone.

“It was that quick,” said his widow Lisa, who met her future husband at a race 27 years ago. “He was a young, healthy man and his body was strong, but the cancer just took over.”

Brant joined the rescue and recovery effort at Ground Zero on Sept. 12, 2001, a day after the terror attacks. He was at Ground Zero through the end of the year, relatives said.

A Queens native who rooted for the Yankees and the Raiders, Brant retired from the PAPD about four years ago. The college catcher spent his retirement fulfilling a lifelong dream — becoming an umpire for local baseball games, his widow said.

Their daughter Eliza, 20, keeps the family’s athletic tradition alive as a member of her college swim team.  “We had hopes of doing a family triathlon — John on bike, Eliza swimming and me running,” she said.

Eliza said her father “was one of the most giving, protective guys I know.”  He was also a grown-up kid, she remembered.

“He would take us to Disney World when I was a kid. He loved Disney,” she remembered. “It was like he was the kid and me and my mom were the adults.”

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Wake: Tuesday 7/24/18 from 2:00pm - 5:00pm and 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Maloney’s Funeral Home
840 Wheeler Road
Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 361-7500

Mass: Wednesday 7/25/18 at 10:00am

Grace Church
450 Edgewood Avenue
Smithtown NY 11787
(631) 265-4680
 

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The PAPD family lost another 9/11 first responder last evening, Retired Lt. John J. Brant. We met about 30 years ago when we worked in the same squad as Police Officers, and that is when he started calling me nephew, and I started calling him “Unc”, and this how we addressed each other for all of these many years even after our respective retirements. He fought a very brave battle, but now his suffering is over, and now he can rest. Definitely gone way too soon. R.I.P. "UNC".........Everett McCain Ret