A man was found dead on a bench outside the Long Island Railroad Station in Bayside last Friday morning.

Police were removing the body of 70-year-old William Bateman at approximately noon from the spot where he died, near the intersection of 41st Avenue and Bell Boulevard.

According to Bateman’s brother, who was at the scene Friday, the deceased lived in Manhattan in the 80s, but moved to Queens. He said he had been homeless for rougly the past year and struggled with alcohol addiction.

“He probably died in his sleep,” said Richard Bateman.

A lifelong Bayside resident, who wished not to be identified, was hanging out at her son’s nearby store on Friday. She said that William Bateman was a fixture in the neighborhood and everybody in the area knew him as “Billy.”

“He was a nice man,” she said. “People here were very good to him,” adding that the mailman was on his way to give Bateman a Gatorade when he learned of his passing.