Irwin Meyer, 96-Year-Old Leader Of Kings County American Legion Post Band, Dies After Being Struck By Car On Voorhies Avenue Last Month (Updated)

Irwin Meyer, 96, of East 21st Street, died May 19, three days after being struck by a car around the corner from his home.

Meyer was crossing East 22nd Street at Voorhies Avenue when a 2012 Dodge SUV made a left turn onto the block, hitting him. Mayer was taken to Lutheran Medical Center with head trauma.

Three days after the accident, on May 19, Meyer died, police said. The information was released by authorities yesterday.

The driver, a 33-year-old woman, stayed on the scene. No charges have been filed yet, and the incident is still under investigation.

Sheepshead Bites reminds our readers to drive safely and be mindful of pedestrians and bicyclists, and for those walking or cycling to be alert when in the street.

Our thoughts go out to Mayer’s family and friends.

Update (1:34pm): The NYPD’s information included an erroneous spelling of the victim’s name. It was Meyer, not Mayer, and the above post has been updated.

Sheepshead Bites has learned that the victim is the same Irwin Meyer we profiled in 2013, the leader of the Kings County American Legion Headquarters Band, and a man who lost much during Superstorm Sandy. Here’s what our writer Willie Simpson said about the “indefatigable” Irwin Meyer:

Surrounded by the pictures of long-passed servicemen and women, hearing the music of another era and reflecting on the heroism of the Four Chaplains, it would have been easy to slip into a dreary nostalgic head space as the band worked its way through its sometimes somber concert music, but Meyer’s energy, vitality and life story transformed the thing entirely.

Meyer, himself a Navy veteran of World War II, was recently profiled in the New York Times after his Sheepshead Bay home was flooded out by Superstorm Sandy, taking much of his precious and rare sheet music he cultivated over the decades, as well as many irreplaceable family photographs. The misery of Superstorm Sandy was but a blip for this sturdy survivor brimming with love for music.

“I cried when I saw the music was ruined,” Meyer told the Times. “I can’t replace it. I’m too old… I finally said, ‘Hey, I’ve seen worse than this.’”

During breaks, Meyer took the opportunity to let me soak in his life story, reflecting on some of the truly sad things he has seen in his long life. He told me that most heart-breaking memory of The War was when the Navy had to bury fallen troops at sea, providing little closure for their families a world away back home. He told me he was there for the Normandy invasion on a destroyer off the beaches of France. He also let me in the moments of great laughter and hilarity that punctuated his war experiences as well.

I wanted to know more, everything, but Meyer had a band to prepare and not a beat to lose.