By all accounts, Nicholas Nowillo was the kind of neighbor everyone wants to have. He was the first to show up at community events and never hesitated to volunteer. In the end, it was that willingness to help that led to his untimely death last week.
A neighbor called the 65-year-old Long Island City resident at 10:30 p.m. last Wednesday to say she was afraid to get out of her car because of the way a man she did not know was looking at her.
She circled the block in her car and when she returned, Nowillo was arguing with the stranger. The man, now identified as Eric Cherry, 43, allegedly beat the Good Samaritan until he fell to the ground and then continued beating him. By the time the ambulance got him to the hospital, Nowillo was dead.
Police say Cherry has a history of arrests, mostly drug-related. He has been charged with felony assault and it is likely the charges will be upgraded to murder. Like all defendants, he has the right of the presumption of innocence until found guilty. If and when that happens, he will probably spend most of the rest of his life in prison.
TimesLedger extends its sympathy to Nowillo's widow, children and two grandchildren. We hope they will take comfort in the fact that his was a life well-lived.
A daughter who still lives in Long Island City said of her father: “He was the little mayor of the block. If you were the stranger in need, he would have come out and helped you. He did not need to know you to help you. He did not think twice. He made the right choice, and I love him for it.”
The woman he died trying to help said Nowillo “didn't think about himself, he just went out to help me. He was like a second father to me.”
These are powerful words of praise for a man who was a model citizen since moving to this country from his home in Ecuador. Nowillo volunteered for service in the U.S. Army and was active in his church and married to the same woman for 39 years.
To say he will be missed would be an understatement.
