Changed by 9/11: Artie Berke, Restaurateur

When two of Artie Berke's friends passed away on 9/11, one leaving five kids behind, his perspective changed in an instant.

"It changes your life, something like that," Berke said. "You start to realize your own mortality. After that, my family came first before anything else."

Berke, an NYPD officer at the time, was sent to patrol Ground Zero the day after the attacks and struggled with the thought of leaving his own family behind if something were to happen to him.

"I spent over a $100 to buy a sufficient gas mask because they were sending us into this thing without being truly prepared," he said. "I don't like taking that many risks and I want to be around for my kids. It was time for me to make a change."

Berke retired from the police force a year later with dreams of starting a new life with his family and leaving behind midnight shifts, overtime, and 12-hour days in the city. He and his wife sold their Huntington home, bought an old deli in Northport, and converted it into the thriving , which they now live above. 

"We took a big gamble," Berke said. "Everything could have went wrong."