Profiles: WTC Oct 8, 2001
Hyfler/Rosner
DANIEL AND JOSEPH SHEA
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Two Brothers on Two Floors
For a time, Daniel James Shea would not work at Cantor Fitzgerald. His older
brother, Joseph Patrick Shea, was pretty high up there, and he did not want
anyone to think he had zipped in on his brother's coattails. Then he
relented.
Joseph Shea, 47, a senior managing director, was on the 105th floor of the
first building to be hit. Daniel, 37, was on the 104th. At home in Pelham,
N.Y., seven children are without fathers.
Three thousand people turned out for the brothers' joint funeral service at
St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan. One reason, perhaps, was the
brothers' generosity. Joseph Shea donated generously to the hockey team of
his alma mater, Georgetown University, and coached local youth hockey and
baseball teams.
When three New York City firefighters were killed on the job this past
Father's Day, Daniel Shea contributed his day's commissions to their
families and persuaded other men on his floor to do the same. They raised
$15,000.
"Cantor set up at the Pierre and the F.B.I. guy told us no one above the
plane would have lived," said their sister, referring to a family service
center the company had set up at the hotel after the attack.
"They were all alive for a while. Danny didn't have his cell, but his friend
Tommy did. They couldn't call out, but when Tommy's girlfriend called, Danny
said, `Call my wife and tell her how much I love her.' Joseph called his
wife and said, `A plane just hit the building.' She said, `What about
Danny?' He said, `I'm just going down to find him.' "
E. RUDY BACCHUS
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Changing His Life
E. Rudy Bacchus thought becoming a member of the Securities and Exchange
Commission was one of his greatest accomplishments. "He passed the exam on
his first attempt," said his sister, Dr. Avril Anthony- Wilson. "He was
pleased."
Mr. Bacchus, 48, was a successful independent trader at the American Stock
Exchange and lived with his wife and two children in Metuchen, N.J. About 10
years ago, he made some changes in his life, giving up going to clubs and
dancing, and becoming a deacon at his church. He used some of his earnings
to help parishioners pay mortgages and college tuition, and he helped them
define their financial goals.
He was attending a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World on Sept. 11.
Mr. Bacchus recently provided emotional support to Dr. Anthony-Wilson as she
made plans to open a private medical practice in their childhood home in
Cambria Heights, Queens. The week before the attack, she reminded him of the
date of the opening celebration. "Sept. 22, I'll be there," he said.
GENNADY BOYARSKY
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Getting Things Right
The wonderful thing about Gennady Boyarsky was that he was a perfectionist
who took as much pride in getting simple things right - like a backyard
cookout with his wife, Jolonta, and son, Michael, 7 - as in creating a
travel package as an American Express travel agent. Mr. Boyarsky worked for
the company at the World Trade Center for five years.
Mr. Boyarsky, 34, was known for his extensive, eclectic music collection,
his ability to make detailed maps of just about anyplace, and his
mischievous streak. His only sibling, Beata Boyarsky, 25, said some of her
fondest early memories were of the times her brother rearranged the
furniture in their home when their mother left on errands. Once, when she
was 6 or 7, he dressed her up as Wonder Woman.
Ms. Boyarsky said her brother never lost that fun-loving side. "He was a
simple, honest, hard-working guy."
MICHAEL CANTY
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Plans for a Proposal
What Michael Canty, the seventh of nine children, wanted most was to create
a family like the one in which he grew up in Schenectady, N.Y. He loved
having lots of like- minded people around him. He accumulated friends - from
childhood, Loyola College and Carr Futures, where he was a trader - and
drank beer with them at bars like Molly's and Chumley's in Lower Manhattan.
He was the friend his friends turned to. All of them called him their best
friend.
He spent weekends at the Canty family house on a lake in the Berkshires or
with Erin Clifford, whom he planned to marry. They took their first trip to
Europe last summer: one day in London and 12 hours in Paris, where, Ms.
Clifford said, they saw "the front of every building" and ate in the city's
"only bad restaurant."
Mr. Canty, 30, was thinking of memorable ways to give Ms. Clifford the ring
on which he had a deposit. He was leaning toward the Berkshire house as a
setting, and here was the plan: he would take her out in the boat and drive
near the shoreline, where his 16 nieces and nephews would brandish a sign:
"Will you marry me?"
THOMAS COLLINS
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Organizing the Weekends
It was an obvious joke, but one Thomas Collins could not resist. "Tom
Collins, like the drink," he would say, introducing himself to strangers and
clients at Sandler O'Neill & Partners, where he was a managing director. And
when he wasn't trying to get a laugh out of someone, Mr. Collins, 36, an
avid skier and outdoorsman, was busy organizing weekend adventures and
outings for his friends and family.
"He was just always on," said Jennifer Hamel, his younger sister. "On
Thursdays, he would start calling people, asking about the weekend: `O.K.,
what are we doing this weekend, where are we going?' He loved being pulled
in a million different directions."
Though Mr. Collins has been identified among the dead, Mrs. Hamel said she
and her family continue to imagine him coming home, just as he did after the
1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and telling stories about his fight
to survive. "Even though I know," Mrs. Hamel said, "I keep thinking he's on
a long business trip and he's going to be home soon."
EDWARD OLIVER
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Long-Distance Romance
Sheryl Budke of Cincinnati had no intention of trying to meet a guy when she
and her sister went to Daytona Beach on vacation, but two grandfatherly men
kept nagging them, so Ms. Budke finally took a walk on the beach with Edward
Oliver, from Staten Island. They knew by the next day that they would marry,
and they kept the romance going long-distance for two years. They were
married for seven.
Mr. Oliver, 31, lived in Jackson, N.J., and was a commodities broker for
Carr Futures. He had a 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Emily, and a 4-month-old
son, Eddie. Mr. Oliver loved golf and "The Honeymooners" and, most of all,
sitting on the couch with Emily, eating reduced fat Cheez-Its. (He was
careful about his health.)
His offices were at the New York Mercantile Exchange building, but on Sept.
11, he had an early meeting at the main office in the World Trade Center.
Ms. Oliver received an odd phone call that morning, in which her husband's
phone number came up on caller ID but she did not hear his voice. She did
not begin to worry, however, until her sister-in-law called.
"I said, `Oh, but he had a meeting,' " Ms. Oliver said. "Then I ran upstairs
and looked in his nightstand drawer and found a business card that said, `1
World Trade Center, 96th floor.' I thought I would die.
"The struggle we did to stay together for two years, and this is all we
get," Ms. Oliver said. "It's just not fair."
DON J. KAUTH
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`Find Something You Like'
After the early deaths of his father and brother and his divorce 10 years
ago, Don J. Kauth, a bank analyst, focused intently on his four children.
"It made him a much better father," said Matt, the oldest.
Mr. Kauth bought a house near the children and their mother in Saratoga
Springs, so they could spend weekends with him, and a camper for vacations
in the Adirondacks.
"He told us, `Find something you like to do and the money will come,' " Matt
said. But he was immensely proud when Matt worked at a homeless shelter with
the Jesuit Peace Corps, a job rich in everything but money. And when
Kathleen, his daughter, won a place on the United States national hockey
team, he was "crying, he was so overjoyed," said Winifred Kauth, his mother.
On Mondays, he rose at 3 a.m. to commute to Manhattan, where he kept an
apartment and worked at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. "He'd say: `That's where
the money is,' " Mrs. Kauth said. "He was making it for his children."
CHRISTIAN L. DeSIMONE
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Taking On Responsibility
When Christian L. De Simone's father died of a heart attack 18 months ago,
he was there for his mother, Christel. He left his position as linebacker
for the Rams football team at the University of Rhode Island so he could
have more time to commute to and from his home in Ringwood, N.J. After
graduation, Mr. DeSimone, 23, moved back home and found a job as a forensic
accountant at Marsh & McLennan on the 100th floor at 1 World Trade Center.
"He didn't have to take on the responsibility of the house, but he wanted to
do it," Mrs. DeSimone said. "He was always like that. Just the other day, a
20-year-old neighbor came to the door to tell me that my son was his hero
because he carried himself so wonderfully and he was so smart."
Mr. DeSimone was to have turned 24 on Oct. 18.
JOHN REO
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Striking Out on His Own
Twenty-eight-year-old John Reo was just about to strike out on his own. He
had recently started a job as a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald and he was
scheduled to move into an apartment in the East Village this month. "He was
so excited," said his brother-in-law, Richard McGuire. "It was his first
important job."
But he was most excited about working alongside another brother-in-law, John
Swaine, a veteran of Wall Street who got him the job on the 104th floor of 1
World Trade Center, Mr. McGuire said. Mr. Reo, of Troy, N.Y., was living
temporarily in Larchmont with his sister Suzanne, who was married to Mr.
Swaine. He also died in the attack on the trade center.
"He looked up to Swaine because he had been there for so long," Mr. McGuire
said. "He really wanted to make him proud."
JOHN SWAINE
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Sharing the Wealth
John Swaine was the consummate Wall Street bond trader: "Aggressive and full
of boundless energy," said his brother-in-law, Richard McGuire. He worked at
Cantor Fitzgerald for about 10 years.
"He really loved his work," Mr. McGuire said. "He worked hard and played
hard."
But he wanted to share the wealth. He helped his brother-in-law, John Reo,
get a job at Cantor, trading bonds. They worked and died together on the
104th floor.
Mr. Swaine, 37, of Larchmont, N.Y., may have loved the Street but he did not
fall for the trappings. He preferred to help his extended family, and to
spend money on his wife of 13 years, Suzanne, and three daughters.
"He rarely spent any money on himself," Mr. McGuire said. "He provided his
family with a beautiful home. But he was unassuming. He didn't have fancy
cars or suits. He took the subway from the train every day. Everything he
did, he did it for his family."
JOHN CRISCI
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His Two Families
"The main thing about John," said Raffaella Crisci, his wife, "he was a
family man." Actually, Mr. Crisci, a lieutenant who worked 23 years for the
New York Fire Department, had two families: Mrs. Crisci and their three sons
in Holbrook, on Long Island, and Hazardous Materials Company 1 in Maspeth,
Queens. He was equally at home in both places. At each he fixed dinners of
barbecued shrimp and ribs, built cupboards and shelves, and organized the
paperwork.
He loved firefighting and was a rescue specialist and teacher. His shift was
over on Sept. 11 when the alarm rang, Mrs. Crisci said, but "he
automatically jumped in, wearing civilian clothes."
Off duty, "he liked being home with me and the kids," she said. He found
plenty to do, watching his sons play hockey, nailing siding and sketching
plans for a little pond.
"We didn't take fancy vacations," she said. "We just liked sitting in the
backyard, swinging on the swing, drinking coffee. We had 30 years together.
I want 30 more."
THOMAS F. HUGHES JR.
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A Life in Pictures
Thomas F. Hughes Jr.'s wife and children assembled dozens of photographs for
collages they displayed at Mr. Hughes's funeral services.
There were several pictures of dolphins kissing them during a family
vacation in the Bahamas. Another one captured Mr. Hughes laughing, because
he had fallen in the snow on a skiing trip. There was another one of a
tailgate party when he and his wife, Rosanne, went to see Bruce Springsteen
at Giants Stadium.
The largest picture was of him in a tuxedo, at his sister's wedding. "He had
the smirk on his face that everyone recognized," Mrs. Hughes said. "I wanted
people to laugh when they saw these pictures. That's how he would have liked
it. He lived life to the fullest."
Mr. Hughes, 46, owned a company called Colonial Art Decorators, a painting
and decorating company based in New York City. On Sept. 11, he was at
Windows on the World, for what was supposed to be a 15-minute meeting with a
client.
The Hugheses, married for 17 years, lived in Spring Lake Heights, N.J., with
their children Ashley, 15, and Patrick, 12. "I don't have the words to say
goodbye," Mrs. Hughes said. "He will always be a part of my life."
JOHN J. MURRAY
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Enamored of Fatherhood
John J. Murray was not one to put things off. He would fill his weekends
visiting friends and family and he would make that one last phone call even
if he was exhausted, said Rory, his wife of two years. Mr. Murray, of
Hoboken, N.J., was a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald.
"There was no complacency about him," she said of her husband. "He didn't
take life for granted. His father said of him after the attack on the World
Trade Center, `He probably lived more in his 32 years than most people live
in 100.' "
For example, shortly after they were married, Mrs. Murray had an opportunity
to take a job in London. He sought a transfer and they lived abroad for
about a year. The couple moved back to the New York City area late last year
to be close to family after she became pregnant with Alyson, who is now 6
months old.
"He was enamored of his daughter and fatherhood," Mrs. Murray said. "For so
many people, becoming a father changes their lives, but he loved every
minute of it."