Firefighter Battling Leukemia Dies

Robert “Bobby” Cournoyer, an Anaheim firefighter whose battle with leukemia prompted more than 100 of his colleagues in April to shave their heads in support, died Wednesday. He was 35.

Cournoyer, who was found to have chronic myelocytic leukemia during a routine Fire Department physical exam, died from complications of a bone-marrow transplant he recently underwent at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte. About 60 firefighters and friends were at the hospital when he died.

“I thought he would conquer this. . . . I’m terribly crushed,” Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said. “He was the kind of guy I wished I had a hundred of. He never had a cross word to say about anybody else and always did his job well.”

His co-workers described him as a loving, positive and courageous person who was hard-working, always the first to volunteer.

“No matter what the challenge, he did it with a smile on his face,” said Richard Chavez, president of the Anaheim Firefighters Assn. “He was extremely respected by his peers and Fire Department administration. . . . He loved life, and we’re going to miss him tremendously.”

Cournoyer grew up in Huntington Beach and graduated from Edison High School. He began his career in 1989 in the department’s fire prevention office; he became a city firefighter July 20, 1990.

After his illness was diagnosed in 1995, he took medication to fight the leukemia, but in February he learned he needed a bone-marrow transplant. His donor was his sister, Terry Tripodi of Garden Grove. Cournoyer and his wife, Erin, 34, were living in an apartment at the City of Hope while he received follow-up treatment.

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A memorial service is tentatively set for 10 a.m. Monday at Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. The firefighters union will hold a reception at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim following the service.

He is survived by his wife; his mother, Emiko Cournoyer; his father, Aldor Cournoyer; and his sisters, Tripodi, Julie Owens and Janet Liebl.

Instead of flowers, Cournoyer’s family requests that donations be made to a trust fund in his name. Donations can be mailed to the Anaheim Area Credit Union, P.O. Box 4620P, Anaheim, CA 92803. Proceeds will benefit the Orange County chapter of the Leukemia Society.