An evening walk in Forest Park turned deadly on Saturday, June 6, when an 85-year-old retired statistician was struck and killed by a falling tree during a sudden thunderstorm in Queens. The victim, Zenon Reynarowych, was pronounced dead at the scene around 8:30 p.m.
Reynarowych had been walking along a park trail when the storm swept through, bringing fierce wind and heavy rain with little warning. Neighbors say the outing was nothing unusual for him, just tragically timed.
Those who knew him in Glendale described Reynarowych as a quiet, nature-loving presence who rarely missed his long walks. "I would have told him not to go out in a storm," said Arlene Lorenzo, a longtime tenant of the Glendale home he owned; Carolyn Brandlein added she was "stunned," according to New York Daily News.
Storm And Emergency Response
NYPD officers arrived in the park to find Reynarowych crushed by a fallen tree on a trail, and the Parks Department quickly sent in a forestry crew to inspect the scene and remove the debris. The same volatile storm cell dumped sheets of rain and whipped up sudden, damaging winds that toppled trees across Queens and other boroughs.
As the storm tore through, the Parks Department fielded more than 250 calls about downed trees, and Con Edison told WABC that crews were working to restore service to more than 10,000 customers, according to WABC/ABC7.
Cleanup And Outages
By 10 p.m., the New York City Parks Department had received 259 reports of downed trees citywide, and utility crews were scrambling to keep up. Con Edison told CBS it had already restored power to roughly 14,000 customers, with fewer than 1,800 still in the dark, according to CBS New York.
City workers and utility teams focused on the hardest-hit neighborhoods in Queens, where big limbs and fully uprooted trees blocked streets and damaged parked cars. The same CBS report noted that a Parks forestry crew removed the specific tree that fell on Reynarowych.
A Life Of Numbers And Long Walks
Before retirement, Reynarowych built a quiet but solid career in mathematics and statistics. He taught math at Borough of Manhattan Community College, where he is listed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor on the college’s faculty page, according to Borough of Manhattan Community College.
He also worked as an editor and translator on statistical texts, and neighbors said he is survived by two sons, according to New York Daily News. Around Glendale, he was better known not for his academic work but for his daily routines, especially his long, solitary walks through Forest Park.
Why The Danger Matters
The June 6 squall line that caught Reynarowych in the park also toppled trees across the Tri-State area and left tens of thousands without power, renewing questions about the city’s aging tree canopy and how inspections are prioritized after severe weather, according to wild overnight blackout coverage.
Officials urged New Yorkers to steer clear of downed trees and hanging limbs and to keep an eye on utility outage maps as restoration work continues.
In Glendale, the loss feels deeply personal. Friends, neighbors and former students recalled Reynarowych as a gentle, steady figure who preferred the quiet of numbers and the calm of a good long walk in the park, one of which ended in a way no one on his block can quite believe.
