He was the Finest.
The funeral for NYPD cop Sorffly Davius, 46, who tragically died on National Guard deployment in the Mideast, drew Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to pay their last respects – but it was his daughter who brought the crowd to their feet.
“He may have served in the NYPD, many called him Major Davius, but he will always be my dad,” Davius’ daughter Ayva tearfully read from a letter on behalf of his six kids, drawing a standing ovation.
Davius suffered a fatal medical episode on March 6 while deployed in Kuwait for Operation Epic Fury, the US military campaign against Iran.
The heartrending tragedy snatched a born “protector” from Davius’ family, New York and beyond, Hochul told the funeral crowd inside Christian Cultural Center in Starrett City.
Hundreds of mourners packed into the center’s ground floor as the governor listed Davius’ many roles as a public servant: an FDNY EMT, NYPD officer, Air National Guard airman and Army National Guard solider.
“My God, his closet must be filled with so many uniforms,” she marveled.
“He was part of that elite group of people touched by God’s message to all of us: don’t just come to earth and take up space, come to earth and make a difference.”
Davius was born on Christmas Day in Haiti and came to his adopted home of New York City at 13 years old, settling in Jamaica, Queens, said National Guard Col. Jeffrey Roth.
“Even as a kid, he stood out, smart, driven, generous, maybe a little too generous at times,” Roth said.
“One older boy once told Soffrly to do his homework. This went on until one day, Soffrly decided he had him down. I can picture him, a young man, telling that bigger kid, ‘Look, genius, I’m not doing your homework anymore.”
Davius was married to the love of his life, Angeline, with whom he had six children.
His final deployment to Kuwait — for which he took leave from the NYPD — had put a hardship on Angeline, so he sent her a regular sum of money, Roth said.
“Just last week, she received another allowance. Clearly, he had set up another auto payment. The memo read, ‘For your hard work,” Roth said, breaking down in tears.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Davius never shied from hard assignments, whether as an EMT, an FDNY rescue paramedic or solider.
She said the fallen officer, decorated solider, husband and father performed the work of a “peacemaker in places where peace does not come easily.”
“You don’t always know what your life will mean to other people, but with Davius, there is no question he left his mark on everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him, and in that, he leaves something that endures,” Tisch said.