At the WTC he was an office worker who became a hero. Here’s how the community is honoring Staten Island man who died of 9/11 illness.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Patrizia’s of Staten Island, in partnership with the Knights of Columbus, will host its third annual fundraising event on Monday, Sept. 8, to commemorate and preserve the legacy of James De Matteo, a heroic Staten Islander.

The event, titled “An Evening That We Will Never Forget,” benefits the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and the Never Forget Fund, according to De Matteo’s son, Nicholas De Matteo.

James De Matteo, who was born in Brooklyn but moved to Staten Island to raise his family, worked for 30 years in finance and commercial real estate on Wall Street.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the Bulls Head resident saved multiple people in the streets of lower Manhattan. He even used his tie as a tourniquet to help a bleeding woman who was hit by debris.

He died in 2022, at the age of