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Anthony Varvaro: Former MLB player turned cop, 37, dies in car crash on his way to 9/11 memorial event

Authorities said that Varvaro was killed in a head-on collision on a section of the New Jersey Turnpike near Exit 14-C close to Jersey City
PUBLISHED SEP 12, 2022
Anthony Varvaro was killed in a fatal car crash while reporting for duty for Port Authority (Brian Garfinkel/Getty Images)
Anthony Varvaro was killed in a fatal car crash while reporting for duty for Port Authority (Brian Garfinkel/Getty Images)

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY: Former Major League Baseball pitcher Anthony Varvaro, who quit the mound to become a Port Authority officer, died in a wrong-way collision on Sunday, September 12, 2022, according to the police.

Varvaro, 37, a native of Staten Island who spent most of his six-year MLB career pitching for the Atlanta Braves, began his employment with the Port Authority Police Department in 2016 at the World Trade Center Command. Between 2010 and 2015, Varvaro pitched for the Braves, the Seattle Mariners, and the Boston Red Sox. After that, he joined the police department. A Port Authority source informed The Post that Varvaro was on his way to work at the commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks at the World Trade Center when he was killed. The married father of four eventually rose to the position of instructor at the department's police academy. Authorities said that Varvaro was killed in a head-on collision on a section of the New Jersey Turnpike near Exit 14-C near Jersey City. The cops informed the Daily Voice of New Jersey that the driver that hit him was going in the wrong direction at the time of the accident. 

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Port Authority Police Benevolent Association's president Frank Conti said in a statement that the union was "shocked and saddened" by the veteran officer's tragic death. “Anthony’s life was taken from us as he prepared to honor the lives of the 37 Port Authority police officers who perished on Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center,” he said. “Police Officer Anthony Varvaro will always be honored and never forgotten.”

Varvaro "grew up among the families of fallen 9/11 police officers and firefighters" on Staten Island, as Conti described him as "a child of Staten Island." He earned a criminal justice degree from St John's University and joined the Port Authority's World Trade Center Command, where he was responsible for "patrolling the sacred grounds of the World Trade Center," according to the union representative.

Conti remembered Varvaro remarking that he was "honored" to work with the team at one point. “It really hit home — I knew many who died here,” Varvaro said of his time at the Ground Zero command center, according to Conti.

“The entire Port Authority family is heartbroken to learn of the tragic passing of Officer Anthony Varvaro,” said PA Chairman Kevin O’Toole and Executive Director Rick Cotton in a joint statement. “Officer Varvaro represented the very best of this agency, and will be remembered for his courage and commitment to service,” they said. “On behalf of the agency, we send our deepest condolences to Officer Varvaro’s wife, Kerry, his four children and his family and friends,” the statement read.

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