Steven G. Williams, retired Nassau police inspector who worked at Ground Zero, dies at 74

Whether helping fellow officers through tense situations or stepping in to babysit his grandchildren, Steven G. Williams was someone his colleagues and family could rely on.

"He just was always there. He was a very reassuring force for the whole family," said his son Scott Williams, of Arlington, Virginia.

Williams, a retired Nassau County police inspector who commanded the department’s Sixth Precinct, died on Oct. 10 of a cancer his family linked to his service at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He was 74.

Born in the Bronx on June 9, 1952, to an FDNY firefighter and a nurse, Williams was 7 when his parents died. He and his brothers spent time at the Little Flower children’s home in Wading River before entering foster care with the Calleia family in Oyster Bay.

Scott Williams said those experiences shaped the father Williams became. Though he "didn’t really have a lot to go on in terms of like what an ideal family environment was," Williams became "a pillar" for his family, providing unconditional love and support.

His sister, Eileen Reina, of Jupiter, Florida, said Williams "always felt grateful" to the Calleias, who kept the brothers together and instilled the importance of education, discipline and hard work.

Rising through the ranks

Williams graduated from St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Long Island University, attending classes by day while working nights as a custodian. He earned a master’s in criminal justice from LIU through a U.S. Department of Justice grant.

Though he considered going into business, Williams grew up hearing about his grandfather, an NYPD officer who died during the 1918 influenza pandemic, Scott Williams said. Williams joined the Oyster Bay Cove Police Department at age 21 and the Nassau County force in February 1977.

Wesley Van Wallendael, a retired Nassau inspector who joined the department alongside Williams in 1977, said Williams was always looking for "another challenge."

As a sergeant, Williams led a field auditing unit and received specialized federal training, Scott Williams said. He later led a domestic violence program as a precinct commander and worked with state officials on traffic safety. He also served as president of the Long Island chapter of the American Academy for Professional Law Enforcement.

Williams rose to inspector and commanded the Sixth Precinct before retiring in 2010. "He had a calming effect on people," Van Wallendael said. "He would ask questions that would make them have to engage their mind."

One of Williams' most significant assignments came after the Sept. 11 attacks. He left home around 3 a.m. the following morning to command hundreds of Nassau police officers deployed to Ground Zero for security and rescue and recovery operations, Scott Williams said.

Family first

Away from the demands of police work, Williams valued being with family. He hosted barbecues, cruised with his wife, Jean, and regularly babysat his grandchildren. For a grandson’s first birthday, he painstakingly planned every detail, down to the type of balloons, Scott said.

Reina recalled annual New Year’s Day gatherings, a tradition that became known in the family as "Williams Day." Though seldom the loudest in the room, Williams had a way of making everyone laugh with his remarks, she said.

Williams also enjoyed growing tomatoes and raising koi, a hobby that may have been inspired by a 1998 trip to Japan to visit his son Scott, who was studying abroad. He became an avid koi keeper, eventually maintaining two ponds and raising some particularly large fish.

Williams is survived by his wife, Jean Ryan-Williams, of Massapequa Park; sons Scott Williams and his wife, Kyipyar, of Arlington, Virginia, and James Williams and his wife, Lisa, of Massapequa; daughter Catherine "Cait" Cassar and her husband, Richard, of West Hempstead; stepson, Mark Ryan, of Massapequa Park; brothers, Frank X. Williams, of Conway, South Carolina, and John Williams, of Newbury Park, California; sister, Eileen Reina, of Jupiter, Florida; foster brother, Eddie Harten; and five grandsons.

Visitation was Tuesday  and will be held Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Francis P. DeVine Funeral Home in Oyster Bay. A funeral Mass will be offeredon Thursday at 10:45 a.m., at The Church of Saint Dominic in Oyster Bay, followed by burial at St. Charles Cemetery.