By William Murphy
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
Robert Grams, a third-generation volunteer firefighter in the Village of Hempstead and its fire chief for a record four terms, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 61.
Grams grew up with the fire department, hanging out at the Linden Avenue firehouse as a youngster, said his longtime friend and fellow firefighter Joseph Madolny, a retired chief.
“We’d pull hose, take part in drills, do everything. As soon as we turned 18, we both joined the Fire Department,” Madolny said. “He joined in 1963. He was a couple of years older. He made captain in 1969 and chief in 1979.”
Grams was a chief for four terms of four years each, and served one year of each term as the top chief, as is customary, according to the current chief, Robert Noonan. His four terms were the most in the department’s 160-year history, Noonan said.
His father, Arthur, was the top chief in 1951 and his grandfather, Henry, was a volunteer firefighter with the department, Madolny said.
After a stint in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1967, Grams went to John Jay College of Criminal Justice and became a New York City police officer in 1969, his wife, Nancy, said.
He quit the NYPD in 1977 and went to work for the Building Department in the Village of Hempstead, becoming superintendent in 1999, she said. He retired a year ago from the building department, she said.
He also is survived by two daughters, Julie Grams of Hempstead and Denise Streszoff of Sparta, Tenn., and a granddaughter, Madison Streszoff.
Visiting is today at the Howard E. Williams Funeral Home, 181 Greenwich St., Hempstead, 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.
A Fire Department service will be conducted at the funeral home at 8 tonight. The funeral at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the home will be followed by a private cremation.
Contributions may be made to the Nassau County Burn Center, Sixth Floor, 2201 Hempstead Tpke., East Meadow, NY 11554.