STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Parks Department will be honoring a former Staten Island employee on the 40th anniversary of his death at a borough park.
The city agency will rename the traffic circle at LaTourette Park and Golf Course in honor of Arthur Leahy on April 6 at 11 a.m., according to a Parks Department spokeswoman. The new name will be Arthur C. Leahy Jr. Circle.
Leahy, 35, was working an overnight shift at LaTourette Park when he was shot and killed during a botched burglary April 6, 1975. The Mariners Harbor resident was the first Parks employee to die in the line of duty.
James Rossano was convicted of second-degree murder in the case and remains incarcerated.
The Parks Department will also create a sign with Leahy's name to designate the area, the spokeswoman said.
The family has been working with the agency since last month to do a memorial at the park in Leahy's memory.
The agency had approved the project and set up a space for a garden. However, some of the family members wanted to have the ceremony on April 6 to commemorate the 40th anniversary, but weather had initially threatened to delay those plans, a Parks Department spokeswoman said.
The concessionaire at LaTourette has plans to re-landscape the circle around the new sign in the future, she said.
Many of the borough's elected officials, including District Attorney Daniel Donovan, state Sen. Andrew Lanza, Borough President James Oddo, Assemblyman Michael Cusick and Councilmen Steven Matteo and Vincent Ignizio, lent their support to get the memorial done.