Around 800 firefighters as well as family and friends came to pay their respects to Richard Driscoll as he was laid to rest Tuesday. Driscoll is the 200th FDNY member to die from an illness related to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

After 32 years, he retired from Engine 91 in East Harlem in 2002. He was also a Vietnam veteran, and his fellow firefighters say his leadership is his legacy. 

"Richie was a natural born leader and mentor," said retired FDNY member Michael Murphy. "In a culture where there is fun spirited hazing and hijinks, Richie decided rather to be a teacher and mentor for the young guys coming on the job, which carries on a tradition that has been going on for a couple hundred years."

Kevin Grace, a former FDNY member and close friend to Driscoll, beat pancreatic cancer he contracted as a result of 9/11, and he says Driscoll was there with him through it all. 

"I'm very lucky. Thank God. I wish he would have been that lucky. He was just a wonderful person and I think it was in his DNA to be that nice," Grace said. 

Three hundred and forty-three FDNY members died on 9/11, bringing the total to more than 500 since then. Firefighters Spectrum News spoke with say that the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund that passed the Senate earlier this week is a big step in the future for first responders.

"That's what we all signed up for, to be taken care of," Grace said. "The government promised us and then for these people to back out of it and have to go begging to live, it's not right, not right at all."

Driscoll's friends called him an advocate for the rights of first responders, and they hope that more lives can be saved from these 9/11-related illnesses. 

"You don't forget a guy like Richie Driscoll, trust me. His name will be on the wall, but he'll always be in our hearts," Grace said.