Family mourns ex-NYPD cop who died surfing on Long Island, reveal likely cause of death
Kin of a beloved former NYPD sergeant who died Sunday while surfing with pals in the icy waters off Long Island say they are shocked because he was in great shape but that he likely suffered a heart attack.
Jack Shapiro, a 54-year-old outdoorsman and retired Brooklyn cop, was winter-surfing off Gilgo Beach with friends around 2:20 p.m. when he plunged into the surf and had to be pulled to shore, police and relatives said.
“He went surfing with some of his friends from his Tae Kwon Do class,” Shapiro’s 19-year-old son, also named Jack, told The Post on Tuesday. “He had all the equipment for cold-weather surfing. He had the whole face, head, gloves, shoes — everything covered.
“He was in real good shape,” the teen said. “They’re thinking it was a heart attack and then drowning. He was a good swimmer. He surfed all the time. During the summer, he’d go once or twice a week.”
The dad, who lived in Holbrook, retired from the NYPD in 2013, where he spent time assigned to the 83rd Precinct in the Bushwick neighborhood before retiring from the 103 in Queens, his family said.
He was rushed Sunday to Good Samaritan University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the official cause of death.
His wife, Kimberly Shapiro, who has two children with Shapiro, including a 22-year-old daughter, Madelyn, is now making his funeral arrangements.
“He was a good father,” the widow said. “He loved to surf. He loved going to the cabin upstate with his children. He was very healthy, very strong. He was a strong swimmer.
“He was surfing for the last 15 years,” she said. “He was very loved.”
She said that in addition to relishing the outdoors, her husband liked woodworking and carpentry — including carving sculptures with chainsaws — and enjoyed boating and fishing.
Jack Shapiro Jr. said his dad also loved music, particularly classic rock bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blue Oyster Cult and grunge legend Nirvana.
He said the two would spend time together at his father’s upstate cabin hunting and snowboarding.
“He had a bigger influence on me than he’ll ever know,” Jack Jr. said. “I never told him because I thought I had the rest of my life to work it out.”
