Nine Years Later, We Remember Marvin Franklin

Track worker Marvin Franklin, who was fatally struck by a train in Brooklyn nine years ago, was remembered at a memorial held Friday in the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station on the A and C lines.

Franklin, 55, was a selfless veteran track worker who put the needs of his co-workers before his own. He was talented artist who sketched subway riders and subway scenes. And he was a caring, giving man, said Mike Cordero, who worked with Franklin for years. “Mike wasn’t just a fantastic artist,” Cordero, who is now a coordinator of Local 100’s campaign to bring pension parity to new hires, said. “Mike brought food to work every night for the homeless.”

A floral wreath was placed on the station mezzanine for the memorial. The attendees included the Maintenance of Way divisional chairmen: Paul Navarro, Track; John Chiarello, Line Equipment/Signals; Steve Higgins, Power, and Richard Rocco, Structure.

Franklin and co-worker were carrying a dolly across the four parallel tracks inside the station when they hit by a G train on April 29, 2007. Two of the tracks were shut down to train traffic for a construction clean-up project but two of them remained active. Franklin’s co-worker, Jeff Hill, was seriously injured but survived.