Boston Vice President Loses Battle With Cancer

March 14, 2008 – The IAFF has lost one of its most notable union leaders and fire fighter safety advocate in the line of duty. Boston, MA Local 718 Vice President Robert Kilduff died March 13 after a courageous five-year battle with occupational cancer.

The wake will be held Monday, March 17 and Tuesday, March 18 from 1:00-8:00 p.m. at the Gromley Funeral Home at 2055 Centre Street, West Roxbury, Massachusetts. The funeral mass will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 19 at the Cathedral of Holy Cross at 1400 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Additional details are available on Local 718’s web site.

“I would be hard-pressed to find a fire fighter more dedicated to the fire service than Brother Kilduff,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “When he learned he had cancer, he never thought about himself. He dedicated the rest of his life to making sure other fire fighters understood the importance of early detection.”

“I’ve been his friend for almost four decades,” states IAFF District 3 Vice President Mike Mullane. “He was truly an American hero as a fire fighter and a person.”

“Bobby was a lion, a true man amongst men,” remembers Ed Kelly, president of Local 718. “He fought until the very end to help us be safer on the job. He extended his compassion to the people of Boston. One of his more notable contributions was establishing a fund to help children and families whose homes were destroyed by fire at Christmas time. Bobby is irreplaceable and will be greatly missed.”

Kilduff, 60, began his service with the Boston Fire Department 40 years ago, serving in Dorchester and Roxbury. “B.K. was a very aggressive fire fighter,” recalls Ralph Dowling, recording secretary for Local 718. “He was always the first one in and the last one out. If he was there, you knew he had your back.”

In 2003, Kilduff was elected vice president of Local 718. In addition to fighting to make working conditions safer for fire fighters, Kilduff also reached out to the people of Boston.

In 2003, at his first physical exam in 30 years, Kilduff was diagnosed with colon cancer. But he did not spend much time thinking about himself.

Kilduff worked with the IAFF to secure a grant to create the “Don’t Be Me” brochure. The brochure was distributed to all IAFF members.

“The issue here is why go to the doctor and learn you’re very sick when you can go to the doctor and keep from getting very sick,” Kilduff wrote in the brochure. “Early detection of cancer is paramount to successful treatment. This will allow you to do what you want to do and not what your doctor will allow you to do.”

Kilduff spent his remaining years championing the benefits of early detection. He spent countless hours on the phone with fellow fire fighters who sought his advice and assurances as they had their own battles with cancer.

A cancer presumptive law was passed in Massachusetts in the early 1990s, but Kilduff believed the law needed to be enhanced. He was still writing that legislation two days before his death, and gave the document to Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM) President Bob McCarthy before he died.

“I was visiting him Sunday night,” says McCarthy. “He asked me to help him put forth legislation that will create a fire fighter cancer network to encourage fire fighters to be screened for cancer. What he has done to protect not only the lives of Massachusetts fire fighters, but fire fighters across the United States and Canada will never be forgotten.”

Kilduff leaves behind his wife, Joanne; his daughter, Shannon, and his son Robert, Jr., who is a Boston fire fighter on Rescue 2.