A member of the condo board that soap actor Nick Santino said pressured him to euthanize his pit bull — a “betrayal” that drove him to suicide — refused to accept any responsibility for the double tragedy yesterday.
“I’m sorry the man is dead,” board member Marilyn Fireman barked to The Post, “But it has nothing to do with the pet policy.”
“You just assumed that [his suicide] was a result of a board’s decision,” Fireman said, even though Santino routinely griped about the building’s anti-dog policies.
Heartbroken relatives of the actor — who had stints on “All My Children” and “Guiding Light” — have retrieved the ashes of Rocco and plan to place them beside Santino’s body when he is laid to rest.
The healthy, 5-year-old dog was put to sleep Tuesday on Santino’s 47th birthday. A few hours later, he killed himself in an apparent pill overdose.
“They’ll be buried together,” his grieving sister Catherine Schmidt sobbed.
She said the family has held off making funeral arrangements until the cremated dog comes home.
“I knew his dog was important to him,” she cried. “The dog was abused and he saved him.”
Schmidt said Rocco was anything but dangerous, describing him as “mushy, sappy and lovable.”
The two went everywhere together.
“The dog came with him one Thanksgiving,” she recalled.
Santino blamed the condo board at One Lincoln Plaza for his decision to put Rocco to sleep — saying the members waged a campaign of harassment against him and dog owners in the building.
The actor left behind a grief-stricken note, a friend said, saying that he “betrayed his best friend.”
“Rocco trusted me and I failed him,” he wrote. “He didn’t deserve this.”
The board began its war against canines in 2010, enacting a series of oppressive rules.
Dogs were forbidden from riding in the main elevator or from being left alone in apartments for more than nine hours.
Breeds like Rocco — whom Santino adopted from a shelter — were outlawed, though he was grandfathered in.
But the troubled television star made no mention of the troubles with his building when he last spoke to family on Tuesday.
“He didn’t tell me anything about it,” she said. “He never discussed it with me.
Santino’s friends unleashed anger at the board.
“People are still in shock here,” said neighbor Kevan Cleary. “There’s a picture of [Nick] in the lobby.”
Sandra Tarr mourned her dear friend on Facebook.
“Nick Santino, you were so dear and special to me and when you called me on Tuesday and cried and told me you didn’t want to live anymore, I should have called 911,” she wrote.
“Why didn’t I just take Rocco when you called me back in November… Why, why, why. ?????????????” she later added.
Close friend Richard Veloso, who walked his dog Daisy with him, wrote on Facebook:
“Rocco and my Daisy are great friends. I’m in shock over them passing,” he posted on his page yesterday morning.
“I’m furious over these co-op boards who try and control people’s lives, there should be consequences for their actions/harassment,” he continued.
“May the universe bless Nick Santino and Rocco and may the universe pay back those harassers for what they did.”