Yonkers' Pat Quinn, co-founder of the Ice Bucket Challenge, dies at age 37

He had worked to bring nationwide awareness to ALS while fighting the debilitating condition himself.

News 12 Staff

Nov 23, 2020, 2:22 AM

Updated 1,257 days ago

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Pat Quinn, a Yonkers resident who raised awareness for ALS and co-founded the viral Ice Bucket Challenge sensation, has died. He was 37.
He had worked to bring nationwide awareness to ALS while fighting the debilitating condition himself.
Quinn let nothing stand in his way -- not even the ALS diagnosis in 2013 that would ravage his body, but not his spirit.
Quinn created the "Quinn for the Win" foundation to raise money and awareness of the disease.
He also co-founded the Ice Bucket Challenge campaign, which ultimately raised hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, in the fight against ALS.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins took the challenge in 2014.
She says she remembers Quinn as a determined man, who insisted on moving forward and inspiring others to do the same.
"He was somebody who brought the best to a really terrible situation," she says.
In September, Quinn was on hand for the Ice Bucket Challenge at his alma mater, Iona College in New Rochelle.
In a statement, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano expressed sadness saying, "Yonkers has lost its champion, fighter and warrior."
The mayor ended his statement with the touching words, "Pat, rest easy my friend, we will take it from here."
His father tells News 12 that he will renew the fight in his son's honor.

"I'm making it now my mission to have his legacy be that ALS will be ended in, hopefully, a short period of time," he says.
A funeral Mass is scheduled on Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Church in Yonkers. 


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