Firefighter William F. “Bill” Gerace was a 10 year veteran of the Gibbsboro Fire Company #1. During his time with the Gibbsboro Fire Company Bill was honored by the Camden County Fire Chiefs and Fireman’s Association in 2007 with the James E. Sylvester Award. In 2009 he was awarded the President’s Award by the Gibbsboro Fire Company. Firefighter Gerace was awarded the Firefighter of the year in 2011 by the Gibbsboro Fire Company. Posthumously he was awarded The Bravest by the Camden County Fireman’s Association & Camden County Fire Chief’s & Fire Officers Association. As well as the Public Safety Purple Heart by the Camden County Hero Scholarship Fund.
Firefighter Gerace will be remembered for his ability to connect with children during fire prevention. He is especially remembered for his annual fire prevention presentation with the 4 year old Pre-K class at the Gibbsboro Elementary school with his special puppet “Chief Sylvester McMonkey McBean”. The children of Gibbsboro fondly called him Fireman Bill. Bill was always willing to help out no matter whether it was an emergency, public assist or a fire company fundraiser. Bill made it a point to visit other fire stations with his son during family vacations.
Firefighter Gerace took part in the annual live burn at the Camden County Fire Academy on April 10, 2017. During this training exercise Firefighter Gerace suffered a spiral fracture of the right fibula. On April 28th Firefighter Gerace was showing signs of respiratory difficulty. Upon the arrival of emergency personnel Firefighter Gerace stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Firefighter Gerace was transported to a local hospital where the medical team was unable to revive him and pronounced him deceased. An autopsy was performed and indicated he suffered a pulmonary embolism that was attributed to being a complication of the initial left fracture and the recovery process.
William F. Gerace was born on October 18th, 1962 to Anthony J. Sr. & Rosalie A. Gerace. He is survived by his wife of 14 years Barbra A. Shelton-Gerace, Son Cameron & daughter Jessica Gerace, along with his brothers Tony, Ted, & Joe.