Manhattan parking garage collapse killed its longtime manager

The manager of the parking garage that collapsed in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday has been identified as the only person killed in the destruction so far, according to multiple customers at the garage.

Willis Moore, whose LinkedIn page and employment records cite him as a “location manager” for Little Man Parking, worked at the garage for at least 14 years, according to a woman who knew him.

Maria Mammano, who used to work in the area and parked at the garage for 14 years, remembered Moore as the "the nicest guy you ever want to meet.”

“I was in such a state last night," she told Gothamist by phone. "I didn’t even sleep last night. We are all just devastated over him. He knew everybody on the block, he knew all his customers, he knew all the neighborhood people."

Mammano said her doctors are still on this block, so she saw Moore two weeks ago when she came in for an appointment. She said Moore gave her a hearty greeting even though she hadn't seen him in over a year.

"He threw his arms around me, 'Hey, how are you doing?'" Mammano recalled. "I can't even believe it."

Gothamist reached Moore's family at home, but they declined to be interviewed.

“We are just grieving,” said a woman who answered the phone at Moore's address.

The scene was relatively quiet on Wednesday morning. Firefighters walked by with crowbars and other tools, looking down the street at the doomed garage, which could be seen buckling out slightly. Twisted metal debris littered the ground in front of the garage, and the surrounding buildings were vacant.

Adam Cohen was among those whose cars were still stuck in the structure on Wednesday. He watched with other customers as crews removed vehicles with an excavator.

"They're just grabbing, plucking them like a claw machine and dropping them on the street," he said.

He also remembered Moore as a beloved neighborhood fixture.

"He was the sweetest guy that you ever met. I knew him for 11 years," Cohen said. "Never had a bad thing to say, always nice. Super smart, we talked about a lot of things. You know, had a good joke every once in a while."

Victor Buono owns a construction monitoring company near the garage and parked his company vehicles at the location. Two of them are visible in images of the collapsed roof. One of his vans, laden with work ladders, is located on a section of the roof that had not collapsed.

"I park there every day," Buono said. "I can see it from my window."

Buono said he'd become friends with the staff at the parking garage, including Moore.

"I own a farm and I’d give him eggs every week. I just gave him eggs on Monday," said Buono. "They treated me like a rock star when I went in there."

He said he'd received no word from the garage operator or city officials as to whether he will be able to retrieve any of his property as cars were being extracted from the wreckage on Wednesday.

Passersby on their way to work stopped to ogle. Many had heard about the incident on the news, or heard the boom of the collapse themselves.

Early Wednesday afternoon, crews were working to dismantle the building.

Officials confirmed at a press conference that Moore's body was still inside the structure on Wednesday morning.

This story has been updated with additional information. Christopher Werth contributed reporting.