A 95-year-old Brooklyn woman, a survivor of some of the 20th century's most harrowing events, was killed while attempting to cross the street near her Bensonhurst apartment. Mayya Gil, who lived through the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the COVID-19 pandemic, died last Thursday after being hit by a cargo van, as reported by Gothamist. She was with her home health aide at the time of the accident, around 12:40 p.m., when the vehicle struck both women as it made a left turn. While the aide survived and is in stable condition, Gil succumbed to her injuries. The driver involved was not arrested or charged, according to the New York Police Department.
Gil's history is a tapestry of resilience and survival. She was 12 years old when she and her family had to flee their hometown of Khmelnytskyi due to the Nazi invasion, settling in Kyiv. Gil’s life was again destabilized when the Chernobyl disaster struck Ukraine in 1986. It was then her daughter, Larisa, decided to swiftly move to New York City. Not too long after, in 1992, the rest of the family joined and built their new life in Bensonhurst, as detailed in a 2020 piece by New York Post.
The family faced another hardship when Larisa, who had initiated their move to the U.S., passed away in 2013 after battling pancreatic cancer. The New York Times' “Neediest Cases Fund” stepped in to help the family afford a burial plot for her. Gil’s resilience was tested once more when her husband Vilyam died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19. Despite these tragedies, Gil continued to be remembered as a lynchpin of the Bensonhurst Jewish community, where she was an active member of the Jewish Community Center of Bensonhurst.
"Everybody knows her. She was a very active lady," Gil's daughter, Irina Lizunova, expressed in a statement obtained by Gothamist. Her granddaughter Natasha Famighetti reflected on Gil's gentle nature, telling the New York Post, "She was the kindest, most generous person I’ve ever met. Nothing gave her more joy than just being around her family."
The tragedy of Gil’s death has underscored ongoing concerns about pedestrian safety, especially for the elderly, in New York City. Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group, reported that 46 senior pedestrians were killed in car crashes last year in the city. Gil's death marked the second such fatal incident involving an elderly person in Brooklyn in the new year, coming after the death of 87-year-old Esther Sealy who was struck by a driver earlier in January.
