The Editorial Board spends this time of year compiling a list of the “big events” and
newsmakers of 2008.
I wanted to take a moment here to remember some of the people who we
lost, those who touched our communities and helped make Rockland special.

• Conor Corish, only 15, was struck and killed by a train on a rainy day in
  May, taking a common shortcut along the NJ Transit tracks over the Thruway.
  Two months later, 22-year-old Ryan Fitzsimons was hit walking along the CSX freight train tracks near his West Nyack home when he was fatally struck. Their deaths are sad, senseless. This month, St. Margaret Elementary in Pearl River took part in an educational program offered by NJ Transit. Yes,
  sound travels strangely, and especially in areas with dense traffic, a train
  can indeed sneak up. It is a tragedy Spring Valley residents along Lawrence
  Street knew for years before a shortcut there was exposed for its danger.


• Ellen Ferretti, 91, was the woman who wouldn¹t sell. Her home on the edge of the Nanuet Mall parking lot symbolized fighting bureacracy, overdevelopment and the mall-ization of America, and winning.


• Clarkstown Justice Joel J. Flick, 69, died in August. The longtime lawyer
  was first judge to oversee a specialized domestic violence court established
  in Clarkstown in 2002 – the first such court in the state.


• VJ Pradhan, Rockland County legislator, who died at age 61. His life in
  India taught him about the world¹s inequities. He came to the United States
  and found opportunity, which spurred his devotion to community leadership
  and civic involvement.


• Dr. Fletcher Johnson,  77, was devoted to education, serving on Nyack¹s
  school board and the Rockland Board of Cooperative Educational Services
  board of education for many years; to public service, leading the county¹s Board of Health; and to his patients. Johnson, a 6-foot-5 quiet giant, struggled as a young black man to have access to education. That fueled his support for education and health care.

There are so many more. Please add your remembrances of special people here.