As I was waiting for my brother from Hawaii to show up at Felix’s, a
wonderful French bistro on Grand and West Broadway, I walked over to the SoHo
Grand hotel to use the restroom (one of my favorites) and I met Thomas Cooleen,
who was sitting out front waiting for an associate of his.
AskaNewYorker: Hello, how are you? Are you here waiting for someone?
Thomas: I’m in here visiting a friend of mine who is the assistant general
manager of the hotel, and also to meet my two friends from New Jersey. Unfortunately,
they’re a little delinquent. They are about 20 minutes late. But I guess
that’s a good excuse for them to complain about New York traffic, which
they generally do, those New Jerseyans.
AskaNewYorker: What’ the meeting about?
Thomas: It’s about fundraising run. The run is the Fourth Annual Firefighter
Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk. Stephen Siller was a New York City
firefighter. He was over in Brooklyn and saw the aircraft hit the first tower
on 9/11. He attempted to come through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel with his truck,
but he couldn’t get through. So, he took his fire gear, about 40 pounds
of stuff, and threw it on his back and ran through the tunnel and went up into
tower 2 and ended up passing away. So, every year since then we emulate his
foot steps that day. We call it “The Firefighter Stephen Siller Tunnel
to Towers Run, Follow the Footsteps of a True American Hero”. We will
probably have between 10,000-11,000 runners on September 25. We have a pasta
dinner together the previous evening at the World Financial Center Winter Gardens
Plaza. We’ll probably have about 60 masseuses who come at the end to take
care of the runners when the race is finished. We have about 40 vendors who
provide us with food and beverage and auxiliary stuff. Proceeds from the run
go to the Stephen Siller FDNY “Let Us Do Good” Children’s
Foundation, which donates to the NYC Firefighter Burn Center, Freedom Alliance
Scholarship Fund, Fallen Heroes Scholarship Fund, Burn Centers Across America,
Legacy & Wings of a Hero Awards, and NY Foundling (Staten Island). See http://www.tunneltotowersrun.org/fundation.html
AskaNewYorker: Very cool. You’re a busy guy. What else do you do?
Thomas: My other job is that I have an office in Singapore and I do trade shows
representing companies who are interested in going to Singapore for developing
their markets in the Far East. I’ve been doing that for about ten years
and prior to that I was in the freight moving business through the world. So,
I’ve had the opportunity to visit almost every place there is.
AskaNewYorker: Did you ever chew gum in Singapore?
Thomas: You can chew gum in Singapore; you just can’t buy it or sell
it. I bring it there as gifts and the customs people always laugh and smile
when they see it. It’s only illegal to purchase or sell gum. But as far
as giving it as a gift, it’s a wonderful thing; it’s kind of a joke
over there.
AskaNewYorker: What’s this pin on your tie?
Thomas: I’m a volunteer fire fighter on Long Island, with the Rockville
Centre Fire Department. I’ve done that for the past 50 years. As you get
older and a little less useful as far as fire fighting is concerned, you can
continue to be a fire fighter by joining external units which control the scene
at a fire, protect the property after the fire, and generally just make sure
no one on our side or the public side gets hurt.
AskaNewYorker: That’s not the only pin I see. What’s the one on
your jacket?
Thomas: This one is the Presidential Pin. I was honored to receive it from
George Herbert Walker Bush when he as Vice President. When he was President,
I’d do work for him both here in New York and Houston, Texas.
AskaNewYorker: So where do you like to hang out in the city?
Thomas: Usually I’m up in midtown. I have a lot of friends and associates
who are in the Times Square area. I do volunteer work for the city of New York.
I worked the Republican National Convention, as Floor Manager. I worked Pow
Wow, which was one of the biggest conventions to come to New York.
AskaNewYorker: What’s Pow Wow?
Thomas: It’s an international association of travel agents and they select
a city every couple years to visit. This year it was in New York and we had
a banquet at Radio City Music Hall. http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=1546
We also had a cocktail party over at Ellis Island.
AskaNewYorker: You’re good. What do your friends call you? Do you have
a nickname?
Thomas: Mr. Know It All. That’s what they call me, because I have a lot
of knowledge just by virtue of experiences and life, going here and there and
everywhere. I think I’ll have new business cards printed up with “Mr.
Know It All”.
AskaNewYorker: What’s Rockville Centre, Long Island like?
Thomas: It’s a great little town with its own fire department and its
own police department. We’re six miles north of the water, 23 minutes
outside of Manhattan. We have our own electric light and power company, and
other facilities that most other places don’t have. So, it’s really
a nice place.
AskaNewYorker: Any grandkids?
Thomas: I have four grandchildren, 3 girls and one boy. The boy is the oldest
and the girls follow. They always have friends to meet up with.
AskaNewYorker: Beat up or meet up with?
Thomas: (laugh) Maybe a little of each.
AskaNewYorker: It was a pleasure meeting you, Thomas, and I hope the run for
Stephen Siller is a huge success!
