Former Menands Fire Chief Stephen Lukovits passed away on September 16 at age 86. Lukovits—originally from Astoria, Queens—moved to Hoags Corners with his siblings and parents as a child, where he started his career as a volunteer firefighter.
Born on Oct. 13, 1936, Lukovits graduated high school in 1954 and enlisted in the Navy shortly after, where he was a Navy Corpsman. He was also stationed with the Marines as a corpsman, before being honorably discharged in 1958. Lukovits worked with his father as a house painter before being hired as the Superintendent of Park Lane Apartments in Menands.
He became a volunteer firefighter in Hoags Corner, and later in Menands, where he rose through the ranks to become fire chief. Lukovits was also Car 8 in the town of Colonie and was in charge of the fire police.