The Long Island Board of REALTORS® Inc. (LIBOR) recognized REALTOR® Patricia Hegarty of The Hegarty Group in Amityville, as the recipient of this year’s celebrated Community Service Award, at their Annual Installation and Awards Dinner held on November 21, 2017 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.   

Patricia was born in Mineola in the early 60’s. As the fifth child of seven, she learned from an early age what it means to be part of a large family, and how to work well in a group! In the early 80’s, Patricia graduated from high school and went right into her first career as a real estate agent at Delta Real Estate in West Islip. Patricia’s Broker, Sally Mandel, was wonderful, and taught her a great deal about the business at the time.

She moved to California and continued her real estate career learning about property management in large apartment complexes.  She became a mom for the first time to a beautiful little girl, Suzanne. They resided in California for two years, and eventually ended up back in New York.

Patricia became a real estate appraiser and started doing residential appraisals as well as appraising some commercial properties. This opened up a different side of real estate work and made her better suited to look at the big picture when it comes to valuing a property. She has now been a certified real estate appraiser for over 25 years.

In 1990, Patricia joined the Fire Department in Amityville.  Her father was a volunteer firefighter in Oyster Bay, NY when he was younger, himself.  She received her EMT certification in 1990 and was proud to be the first woman firefighter/EMT in her company, Hose Company #1.  Patricia is currently Captain of the Rescue Squad which answers over 1,200 EMS alarms annually. 

Patricia has been an EMT now for over 27 years and has become a CPR instructor as well. As the Chairperson of Fire Prevention for her department, she teaches young kids fire safety and promotes overall safety at home. The enjoyment Patricia gets from serving her community is incredible and the work is almost always exciting. The training is constant and the hours on a crew night, when you are awakened to assist someone in need, are challenging, but she feels the compelled to be a part of it. Especially now that her husband is a Chief, and has been with her on this journey for 25 of her 27 years.  They met at the firehouse 25 years ago and have been together since!

Patricia opened her real estate office, The Hegarty Group, in Amityville to better serve the community that she has been a part of, and has grown to love.