NEW YORK (PIX11) — Port Authority Police Officer Anthony Varvaro, a former baseball player, died in a crash Sunday as he headed to the World Trade Center for a 9/11 commemoration event, according to the Atlanta Braves.
Varvaro spent four seasons in Atlanta, according to the team. He left in 2016 to become a police officer.
“The entire Port Authority family is heartbroken to learn of the tragic passing of Officer Anthony Varvaro,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole and Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said in a joint statement. “Officer Varvaro represented the very best of this agency, and will be remembered for his courage and commitment to service.”
He leaves behind a wife and four children, O’Toole and Cotton said.
Varvaro played baseball at St. John’s University before a six-year career in the majors as a relief pitcher with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox.
St. John’s head baseball coach Mike Hampton said he was “at a loss for words” over Varvaro’s death.
“Not only was he everything you could want out of a ball player, he was everything you could want in a person,” said Hampton, who was an assistant coach at St. John’s during all three of Varvaro’s seasons there. “My heart goes out to his family, friends, teammates and fellow officers.”
