Capt. Martin Green, a veteran firefighter with the Tucson Fire Department, died Saturday after a sudden illness. He was 51.
Green joined the department in 1990 and served as a firefighter and engineer before becoming a captain, said TFD spokesman Capt. Barrett Baker. He is survived by his wife and three children.
The Tucson Firefighters Association’s Facebook post saying “it is with a heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of our brother” was met with hundreds of messages of condolence from community members, as was a similar post by TFD.
Maredith Clack, pastoral associate at the Most Holy Trinity Parish where the Green family are parishioners, said she has been in contact with the family and they are grateful for the “amazing outpour of love and support” from the community.
Clack described Green as a “loving, kind gentleman who would give you the shirt off his back.”
“Anytime you needed something he was always there,” Clack said. “He’s going to be missed tremendously.”
One of Green’s contributions to the fire department was to communicate with the Spanish-speaking community, such as through interviews with the Telemundo news station, Baker said.
Marcos E. Moreno, youth minister at Most Holy Trinity, said he grew up a few blocks from Green in South Tucson.
Green had a warm personality and would always greet him with a “handshake and a smile,” Moreno said.
Green and his brother fixed up properties in South Tucson and rented them, rather than flip them for a quick profit, Moreno said, adding the Greens were known as kind-hearted landlords.
South Tucson considers itself a small town and Green was a “small-town legend.”
“This was a man who never forgot where he was from, the way they were raised,” Moreno said.
Services are tentatively planned for 9 a.m., Saturday at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave. After the burial, a reception is planned at Most Holy Trinity, 1300 N. Greasewood Road.
