By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-22 17:34:41 | Updated at 2024-11-29 08:29:22
6 days ago
A scholarship honoring slain NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller raised a staggering $70,000 at its first official fundraiser Wednesday — and the steady stream of donations is far from slowing down.
As many as 500 loved ones, former law-enforcement veterans and generous partiers packed into the fallen cop’s favorite Wantaugh, LI, watering hole to empty their pockets for the new fund in an outpouring of support that his grieving widow described as “meaningful and impactful.
“What happened to Jonathan is horrible, and it shows you the bad in the world. But all the support and love has shown me all the good in the world and how much love people have in their hearts,” Diller’s wife, Stephanie Diller, said at the fundraiser.
“Jonathan was the most giving person you could ever meet. He’d give the shirt of his back to anybody and to see his sacrifice is going to benefit others through this scholarship, to see it going to it go to deserving students — he would have been very proud,” Stephanie said. “And I’m very proud.”
The event, hosted at Mulcahy’s Pub & Concert Hall, was far from somber. Loved ones, former classmates and law-enforcement veterans focused on the legacy Diller left behind rather than his tragic death at the hands of career criminals earlier this year.
The three-year department veteran was remembered as a dedicated student during his time at St. Mary’s High School, as well as a standout athlete and team player who displayed selflessness at a young age — and was long set on the path to serve in law enforcement.
In honor of his memory, the Detective Jonathan Diller Scholarship Fund will benefit students at his alma mater who exhibit the same academic and athletic drive.
“It was high energy. Everybody was happy to be there,” Larry Weinberger, who organized the fundraiser, told The Post of the event. “It was a celebration of life, Jonathan’s life — everybody seemed to get behind knowing that it would create this memory perpetuity,”
Organizers expect to eventually reap $100,000 for the scholarship fund — an “aggressive goal” that Weinberger said he expects to reach within the next few days.
Hundreds of donors who were unable to attend the event at Mulcahy’s Pub have been loyally funneling cash into the digital fundraiser.
The outpouring means more than one student at Diller’s alma mater could benefit from the yearly high-school scholarship annually. A year at the Manhasset, LI, Catholic school costs nearly $13,860.
“We are filled with hope and optimism as hundreds of donations continue to rise in numbers today, that will enable us to carry Jonathan’s charismatic leadership and zest for paying it forward well into the future at his alma mater,” said Gerard Buckley, principal of St. Mary’s.
The event itself was such a smash that Weinberger is considering hosting it annually.
“A celebration of Jonathan’s life on an annual basis would be a beautiful thing,” he said.
Organizers expect to have the scholarship ready for applications in the coming months and for the fund to start benefiting students as soon as the 2025-26 academic year.
Diller was shot dead in March after approaching two suspicious criminals in a parked car at a bus stop in Queens.
