Wow, this is sad news. My friend Christopher just informed me that one of the guys who posed in that firefighter calendar I blogged about earlier this week -- John "Jack" Silvinski Jr., aka Mr. Phildelphia -- actually committed suicide earlier this summer. The 32-year-old former Marine had been suspended for posing for the charity project back in April -- a decision that reportedly devastated him -- but was quickly reinstated, so it's unclear what led to this fateful and tragic decision. At the time of his death, Katherine Kostreva, the photographer who shot Slivinski, said he would only be included with his family's blessing. A launch party for the calendar is being held tonight in Soho, and it includes Silvinski's infectious smile for the world to still enjoy. May he rest in peace.UPDATE:
Today's New York Post has an article about the calendar and reports that Silvinski's parents will be at the calendar launch party tonight at Greenhouse in Soho. (Read HERE.) They also have exclusive photos of the guys, including Philip Sylvester -- aka Mr. New York, above -- HERE.
2 comments:
Kenneth, Unfortunately, he was only "sort of" quickly reinstated. Silvinski was only reinstated after stories ran on the local TV stations and ran in the Inquirer and other local papers. Only the stories generated a lot of negative press for Commissioner Ayers did Silvinski get reinstated. Ayers appeared, IMO, to do that only begrudgingly.
This isn't the first questionable move for Ayers. He also suspended a Battalion Chief for singing the National Anthem in the fire house. Ayers charged that singing the National Anthem was conduct unbecoming a fire officer.
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/tag/national-anthem/
Kenneth,
When I did my post on the calender, I had noticed his bio refereed to him in the past tense, and had a dates that would represent his birth and death. I did a Google search, and read about the suicide. I had watched his bio video before, and hew seemed to be such a warm, bright and happy guy. Then to read about the suspension for taking part in the calender (which is nothing but bullshit in my eyes) and the fact that he was separated from his wife, all must have been more then he could deal with. I thought hard about posting the info, but chose to leave it out.
After reading your post, maybe I should have included it, but no matter, I know he his looking down on us and smiling, knowing that he did a good thing, and will be loved by many for years because of his involvement in all he did, including this calendar.
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