Ridge Firefighter Dominick Losquadro Dies, Family Links Cancer to 9/11 Service

For nearly three decades, Dominick J. Losquadro pulled on gear and answered calls at the Ridge Volunteer Fire Department, one of the volunteer companies that anchor emergency response across central Suffolk County. He died March 30, 2026, at 58, from cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the bile ducts. His family has linked the disease to his enrollment in the World Trade Center Health Program, connecting his illness to work he performed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks at Ground Zero.

Losquadro joined the Ridge department in 1997 and served there for years before also volunteering with the Middletown Volunteer Fire Company in Maryland, where he had eventually relocated. The Ridge department, like most volunteer companies along Long Island's North Shore, depends on members who hold full-time jobs elsewhere and still respond to alarms at all hours.

That dual commitment shaped Losquadro's adult life. He logged 33 and a half years at State Farm Insurance while sustaining his volunteer obligations, a balance his family described as one of his proudest accomplishments. He was a 1985 graduate of Shoreham-Wading River High School, later attending Suffolk Community College, and was born April 4, 1967, in Mineola.

Losquadro came from a family with substantial roots in Suffolk civic life. His brother Daniel Losquadro served in the Suffolk County Legislature, becoming majority leader in 2006, before going on to serve as Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent. His brother Steven Losquadro is an attorney based in Rocky Point. Dominick is survived by his wife, Kelly, to whom he was married 34 years, four daughters, a granddaughter, and his brothers Steven and Daniel.

The family has asked that memorial contributions be directed to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the nonprofit that supports first responders and their families, reachable at t2t.org.

Cholangiocarcinoma is among the more than 90 cancers now recognized as covered conditions under the World Trade Center Health Program, the federally administered program established by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. The program provides free health monitoring and treatment to eligible responders, recovery workers, and volunteers who worked at or near Ground Zero. Suffolk County residents who believe they qualify can begin the enrollment process through cdc.gov/wtc or by contacting the Mount Sinai WTC Health Program, which serves the New York metropolitan area. Advocates have long urged anyone who worked in the Ground Zero area in the weeks and months after the attacks to seek evaluation regardless of whether they served in an official capacity, noting that volunteer responders have historically faced greater barriers to care.

Losquadro's death at 58 adds to the list of Long Island residents whose 9/11-related illnesses have surfaced years or even decades after the attacks. In Ridge and communities like it, where volunteer fire companies are often the most visible civic institutions outside of schools, the loss of a member who served for 29 years carries weight beyond any single household. Funeral arrangements were handled through the Stauffer Funeral Homes in Maryland; local Long Island services were coordinated through Matthew Funeral Home in Rocky Point.