He’s the finest of the Strongest — a half-century veteran of the Sanitation Department who served his last day as commissioner Friday.
True to form, the famously hardworking John Doherty put in a full day on his last shift at Sanitation’s Lower Manhattan headquarters, starting at 7 a.m.
But it wasn’t just a day like all others.
The department hosted a farewell breakfast, where Mayor de Blasio joined rank and file Sanitation workers to honor the popular commissioner, who rose from street cleaner to lead the agency.
“There are people in our lives that are living legends, and one of them is right here,” de Blasio said, gesturing to Doherty.
He thanked Doherty, 75, for staying on for him through the winter, which ended up including the snowiest January and February since the Civil War era.
He persuaded him to stay, he said, by telling him, “The people of New York need you one more time.”
To which a laughing Doherty replied, “Mayor, if I knew it was going to be as tough as it was this winter, that might have been a no.”
Although Doherty took some heat at City Hall earlier this year when Upper East Siders complained vociferously about snow removal in their neighborhood, the mayor was full of compliments Friday.
“You taught me a lot about grace under pressure, and how to handle anything thrown at you,” de Blasio said.
“It was a good run,” Doherty replied. “We got through it.”
He said it was his “privilege” to serve in the Sanitation “family.”
“We were always a team, and that’s what I liked about it,” he said.
Queens Assemblyman Michael DenDekker — himself a former Sanitation worker — said Doherty was an inspiration and made him “realize I could do more with my life.”
When Doherty left the building at the end of his final shift, the FDNY bagpipe band played “Minstrel Boy” and workers cheered him out the door.
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