The former officer, Cesar Borja, 52, had been in intensive care, breathing through a tube, at Mount Sinai Medical Center, awaiting a lung transplant. Hospital spokeswoman Lauren Woods confirmed the death late Tuesday.

Borja’s son, college student Ceasar Borja Jr., was invited by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Democrat, to attend Bush’s speech as a reminder to the president of workers who were stricken with a host of illnesses after exposure to toxic World Trade Center debris.

The younger Borja learned of his father’s death in a phone call while eating dinner around 6:30 p.m. Seeking to honor his father, he insisted on attending the 9 p.m. speech.

The senator called Borja’s death a “terrible tragedy.”

The son, she said, “is a courageous and remarkable young man. His sense of duty to his father and to the mission that brought him to Washington is inspiring and heartbreaking.”

The son’s comments earlier in the day showed he was aware of just how critical his father’s health situation had become — and why it was important for him to speak out in Washington.

“It’s a very emotional time, and it’s very difficult,” said the son. “My father is a symbol of those in need, in desperation.”

The Hunter College student said he came to Washington to make the point that there are many more whose lives are threatened by their exposure at ground zero.

“Nine/11 is not over. It didn’t end in 2001. It is still affecting my father and numerous other first responders,” he said. “My father is an extreme example of what can happen and what may and will happen in the future.”

Clinton and other New York lawmakers have been urging the government for years to pay for treating Sept. 11-related illnesses.

While Democrats now control both chambers of Congress and have the power to pass and amend budget bills, the New York Democrats, who included Clinton and Sen. Charles Schumer, said the responsibility lay principally with the Republican White House.

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