James Gandolfini always gave the impression that he was one of the good people, and this New York Times article, if you missed it earlier, makes that point in spades. (“Mr. Gandolfini once even offered to pay for one of the building’s employees to go to college.”)

EJ submitted a nice comment:

It got me thinking that a lot of folks might want to share memories about living near Gandolfini, so I asked in today’s email newsletter and on Facebook and Twitter. (Some of these tweets weren’t addressed to me, but who cares?)

From Connie Brunner-Steidel: “I lived in Tribeca for almost ten years and is was very common to see celebrities—it seemed like the entire cast of ‘The Sopranos’ lived in the neighborhood at one point. I would often see James Gandolfini out and about. The first time I ever saw him was in an elevator in a building where I worked. The doors of the elevator open and there he is standing there in a tuxedo looking a little disheveled. This guy was huge. Of course, my silly reaction to seeing him is one of reacting to Tony Soprano being in the elevator and I was actually thinking to myself not to get in the elevator and when I did I sort of cowered in the corner until I looked up at him and he says to me, ‘I am not Tony Soprano,’ and he smiled. I apologized, and he said, ‘Don’t worry about it. I get that a lot.'”

From Jonathan Stinnett: “Years ago, in Washington Market Park, I hear an adult roar and a bunch of kids shrieking (with delight) behind me. I turn around and see him, playing monster, chasing the kids around. I’m seeing the lethal Tony Soprano, not a local dad, so that playground scene looked a whole lot scarier to me than it did to those kids having fun in the park. Great actor, seemed to be a pretty good Dad, too.”

From Marnie Rustemeyer: “I ran into him at my chiropractor’s office. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, but was really nice and said hello. May he rest in peace.”

From Stacey Sosa of Estancia: “James would come in with his wife and then their newborn. He came to us because he knew he was safe. We did not bother him or make a big brouhaha over him. He wanted to just be a customer enjoying food and family. We delivered food to him when he stayed home, and he would call to put his order in, not an assistant, just James being James. I am so sad, we are so sad, Tribeca is so sad!”

From Kat Sosnick: “A few years ago we did a blood drive for a local kid who had leukemia. James (Jim) saw one of the posters in Tribeca and emailed me personally from the info on the poster to get involved with his son Michael. I still have his personal email from that day.”

If you have something to add, please post it in the comments or email tribecacitizen@gmail.com.

(Top photo courtesy emmaday15/Instagram.)

Update: Comments have been turned off due to spam. To have them turned back on, email tribecacitizen@gmail.com.