"Luis A. Palermo Jr. was born to Linda and Luis A. Palermo on December 10, 1967 in Brooklyn, NY. Despite New York being his home, his heart was always in Puerto Rico. Luis would visit Puerto Rico very often throughout his childhood and that continually carried over into his adult life. He loved the warm weather, and especially the food and coffee. Because of him, I have been able to create my own memories on the island with our family. My father learned to speak Spanish at a very young age, always conversing with his grandmother. This advanced him during his career as a police officer. Being one of the few Spanish bilingual officers in the Nassau County Police Department benefited my dad to study more and become confident in his translations. This always intrigued me as a kid wondering what he did while I was asleep at night. While getting ready for school, I used to love hearing his stories about the night before. One night he actually didn’t have to translate because his partner at the time with the few Spanish words he knew, handled it. The first time Luis wore a uniform was as a Royal Ranger for the Lighthouse Assembly of God Church he attended as a little boy. Little did he know that in October of 1994 he would again be wearing a uniform but this time for the Nassau County Police Department. Being part of the Nassau County 3rd Precinct was one of the greatest honors and joys of Luis’ life, you would always find him with a smile on his face. However, there was nothing more meaningful to him then spending time with his family: his wife Debbie of 23 years and their children Celine (19), Caitlyn (16), and Caleb (10). As a family we were extremely close but our hero’s life was taken from a lung disease related to his role in the World Trade Center recovery efforts. Posthumously he was then assigned to the Bureau of Special Operations Unit. My family and I are so grateful to the Hispanic Society for choosing to memorialize my father with an award in his name. Even more so, that I get to accept the award on behalf of my sister Celine Palermo, who is attending the Fashion Institute of Technology and is currently studying abroad in Paris." ~written by Caitlyn Palermo