R.I.P. Robert Domaszowec

For Robert Domaszowec's children, his work as a window washer was dangerous only because their mother said so. The dedicated father of three didn't make a big deal about hanging hundreds of feet above some of Manhattan's storied landmarks - and his kids didn't worry much about him. So it was with unspeakable shock and sadness that they learned that Domaszowec, 49, plunged 12 stories to his death Tuesday while working in Greenwich Village. "He never made a big issue about it," his daughter, Larissa Domaszowec, 18, said yesterday. "When he left for work every day, we never considered the danger an immediate threat. But it was always in the back of our minds." Just a day before the tragic accident, Domaszowec had driven his daughter to Ithaca College, where she was set to begin her sophomore year. The next day, her older brother drove up to the school and delivered the tragic news: Their father's safety hooks failed as he worked on a building on Fifth Ave. and he fell to his death. "It hit me like a ton of bricks," Larissa Domaszowec said. "It's the last thing you would expect to hear. To say I was devastated is the biggest understatement possible." She and her brothers, ages 12 and 28, grew up hearing their mother, Tracey, tell them that their father's work - a trade he followed his father and uncle into - was as dangerous as a firefighter's job. Their dad counted some of the city's greatest landmarks as clients, including St. Patrick's Cathedral and Bloomingdale's, in the 25 years he worked as a window washer. Domaszowec worked for Techniclean Corp. but kept a list of steady patrons for whom he would do cleaning as an independent contractor, his family said. He was an experienced worker and on the day of his fatal fall, he was wearing a harness. Officials from the city Buildings Department's scaffold safety team and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are probing what caused the hooks to give, officials said. Sources said the building at 40 Fifth Ave. will likely be issued a violation for failing to maintain the exterior wall. Domaszowec was born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to Ukrainian parents and moved his family to upstate Kerhonkson 10 years ago to be closer to his outdoor hobbies - fishing and hunting. And if he wasn't fixing something around the house, he was most likely "cracking a joke or trying to push your buttons," Larissa Domaszowec said. "My dad was probably the funniest man I know."