BAY RIDGE — Bradley was the youngest of five, with four older sisters whom he was very close with. After attending Le Moyne College for two years, Bradley eventually decided he wanted to join the Navy to do “something more impactful and meaningful.”  

After enlisting, Bradley went through bootcamp and later went to the Mississippi Gulfport United States Naval Construction Battalion — better known as the Navy Seabee — training center before he was sent to California and then deployed to Okinawa, Japan.

On the evening of Oct. 30, 2019, Bradley Jr. was found dead inside his locked room at the Port Hueneme Naval Base barracks in Ventura County, California, in a suspected suicide. He was 22 years old. 

“Nobody saw this coming. Nobody had any clue,” his father pointed out. “I thought he was happy in the Navy. We still don’t have any answers or really know the reason why.” 

After the first anniversary of Jimmy’s passing, the Bradley family created a fundraiser designed to keep Bradley Jr.’s name and legacy alive.

“We did not want his name forgotten,” Bradley Sr. said. “So we decided that in the next year, 2021, we would do something to honor him.”

Approximately $50,000 was donated to various charities over the past three years of fundraising. The fourth annual Jimmy Bradley Fundraising Event was held on Oct. 27 at The Wicked Monk. This year, the goal was to raise money for a dedicated and deserving Xavier student for tuition assistance.