Luis Alvarez, 9/11 First Responder and Advocate, Dies at 53

Luis Alvarez, a retired NYPD bomb squad detective died on June 29 in a hospice in New York. He was 53.

Retired New York Police Department detective and 9/11 responder Luis Alvarez testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on reauthorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund on Capitol Hill on June 11, 2019, in Washington, DC. Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Luis Alvarez, a retired NYPD bomb squad detective who described for Congress his 9/11-related medical issues during an impassioned appeal for an extension of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, died Saturday in a hospice in New York. He was 53.

His death from complications of cancer linked to the time he spent with other first responders in the rubble at ground zero was announced in a Facebook statement from his family.