The
bond trading company, Cantor Fitzgerald was almost unknown outside financial circles on
wall street until September 11th, 2001. Their offices occupied the 101st thru 105th floors atop
1 World Trade Center. On September 11th, the lives of 658 of their employees were cut short during the
terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center. The name Cantor Fitzgerald has now become synonymous with loss, a tragedy of a scale few in the US have seen outside of a War.
There were so many tragic losses that day; including fire fighters, police officers,
Windows of the World,
Carr Futures,
Marsh & McLennan etc. But the numbers lost by this one firm were so high that more than 1/5th of the NY Times
Portraits of Grief featured stories of those lost at Cantor. Daily, for over a year, at least one of those tragic losses at Cantor were featured; telling the stories of just one of the 658 lost that day.
There was much negative press following 9/11 when the company stopped paying the salaries of the 658 who died, however the company was determined to stay in business so they could help take care of the victim's families. In order to do so there was no way the 325 remaining employees could afford to pay the salaries of the 658 who parished. Eight months after the tragedy Cantor embarked on an
ad campaign centered around the loss on 9/11 featuring the sorrow and
guilt that many of the survivors felt, the ads were not without
controversy but those involved were driven to keep the company alive for the families of those lost.
The
Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund was established September 14, 2001, the fund provides assistance for
childcare,
tuition, housing, and living expenses and so on. Staffed by volunteers and underwritten by
Partners of Cantor Fitzgerald as well as
Howard Lutwick himself - 100% of the money donated to this fund is given directly to the victim's families. The fund was established with a $1 million dollar donation by Howard, by December, 2001 the fund had distributed over 8.5 million dollars in donations. Over 1000 children were left without a parent, and in many cases the principal breadwinner, this fund has provided much relief for the families of the victims.
Donations can be made via:
Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund.
101 Park Avenue, 45th Floor
New York, NY 10178
Attn: Ms. Edie Lutnick
There have been hundreds of articles written about this tragedy and at least one book. The book "
On Top of the World" subtitled "Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11: A Story of Loss and Renewal," by Tom Barbash; is a heartwarming book which chronicals how the company survived after 9/11.
The sheer numbers of those lost is difficult to grasp, the
Cantor Fitzgerald Memorial page was set up as a place for family, friends to share the stories of their loved ones and for the rest of us to send our thoughts out to the families. I personally wanted to send out my thoughts to each family and I realized spending only 10 minutes on each post to their memorial page would take over 109 hours, this puts the loss into a scale that I still can not wrap my mind around. The following list from the Memorial page shows just how vast their loss was.
Every name that follows represents:
A person who has a mother and father who are grieving
A wife or husband who lost their spouse
A son or daughter who lost their father or mother
Someone who lost their best friend
A sister or brother who lost their sibling
A grandmother, grandfather; or grandson, granddaughter
Each name below represents perhaps more than a dozen people who tragically lost someone they cared about...
Let's realize that each of these names represents someone who dies - because of American policies outside our borders right or wrong. Let's tell them they won't be forgotten - take a few minutes of your time if you will, to share your kind thoughts...
Let em know they aren't just a # of 2792 dead.. that they will be remembered...
Abate, Andrew & Vincent
http://www.cantorfamilies.com/cantor/jsp/tribute.jsp?ID=3072
Acquaviva, Paul
http://www.cantorfamilies.com/cantor/jsp/tribute.jsp?ID=3076
Adams, Donald L.
http://www.cantorfamilies.com/cantor/jsp/tribute.jsp?ID=3077
Adams, Shannon
http://www.cantorfamilies.com/cantor/jsp/tribute.jsp?ID=3078
Agarwal, Alok
http://www.cantorfamilies.com/cantor/jsp/tribute.jsp?ID=3081
Alameno, Andrew
Allingham, Chris Edward
Angilletta, Laura
Antigua, Lorraine
Apollo, Peter Paul
Aquilino, Frank Thomas "F.T."
Aron, Joshua Todd
Badagliacca, John
Baeszler, Jane
Barbaro, Paul
Barkow, Colleen A
Bartels, Carlton
Basmajian, Alysia
Beck, Lawrence I
Bellows, Debbie
Bennett, Bryan
Bergsohn, Alvin
Bernstein, William (Bill)
Betterly, Timothy
Bhukhan, Bella
Birnbaum, Joshua
Blackman, Albert Balewa
Boehm, Bruce D.
Boryczewski, Martin Michael
Bowden Jr, Thomas H
Bowers, Kimberly
Bowman Jr., Shawn E.
Braca, Alfred J.
Bratton, Michelle Renee
Brennan, Edward
Brown, Lloyd
Buchanan, Brandon
Buckley, Dennis
Buhse, Patrick Joseph
Bulaga Jr, John
Cachia, Brian
Cahill, Scott Walter
Cahill, Thomas
Calvi, Gene "Gino"
Candela, John A
Cangialosi, Stephen Jeffrey
Caporicci, Louis
Castrianno, Leonard M.
Cayne, Jason
Cheatham, Delrose
Cherry, Stephen
Chevalier, Nestor
Chowdhury, Abul
Chu, Pamela
Cintron, Nestor A
Cisneros, Juan
Clark, Gregory A.
Cohen, Kevin
Coladonato, Anthony J
Conner, Margaret
Corbett, Joseph A
Costello, Michael S
Cudina, Richard
Cummins, Brian Thomas
Curry, Beverly
D'Amadeo, Vincent
D'Ambrosi, Jr., Jack L.
Damaskinos, Thomas
Damiani-Jones, Jeannine
Davidson, Michael
De Bin, Anna
De Cola, Paul
De La Torre, Azucena
DeFazio, Jason
Dejesus, Monique
DeRienzo, Michael
DeSimone III, Edward
Devitt, Jr., Robert Patrick
Difato, John
Dimino, Stephen
Dionisio, Jr.Anthony
Dollard, Neil
Dowd, Thomas
Doyle, Joseph
Esposito, William
Farrell, John
Fava, Shannon Marie
Favuzza, Bernard
Fernandez, Judy Hazel
Ferrugio, David
Fersini Jr, Louis
Finnerty, Timothy J
Forsythe, Christopher
Foster, Claudia
Fumando, Clement
Furman, Steven
Furmato, Paul J
Galante, Deanna
Galante, Grace
Gambale, Giovanna (Gennie)
Gardner, Douglas B
Garfi, Francesco
Gelinas, Peter Gerard
Genco, Peter V.
Gerhardt, Ralph
Gertsberg, Marina
Giaccone, Joseph
Gilligan, Ron
Gilly, Laura
Gnazzo, John
Goldflam, Jeffrey
Gould, Michael E
Grazioso, John
Grazioso, Timothy G
Grzymalski, Matthew James
Hannaford, Kevin James
Harris, Stewart D.
Hasson, Joseph
Hazelcorn, Scott
Heeran, Charles
Hernandez, Raul
Hindy, Mark David
Hobbs, Thomas
Hoffmann, Frederick
Hoffmann, Michele
Horohoe, Robert
Ibis, Zuhtu
Ingrassia, Christopher
Innella, Paul
Isaac, Todd
Iskenderian, Aram
Iskyan, John
Ivantsov, Aleksandr
Jackman, Brooke
Jagoda, Jake
Jain, Yudh
Jeffers, Paul E.
Jian, Hweidar
Jones II, Donald Thomas
Juday, Karen S
Kandell, Shari Ann
Kang, Joon Koo
Kanter, Sheldon
Kelley, Fred
Kelly, Joseph A
Kirwin, Glenn D.
Koestner, Frank
Kousoulis, Danielle
Ladkat, Ganesh
Ladley, James Patrick
LaFalce, Joseph A.
Lang, Rosanne P
Larrabee, Christopher
Lassman, Nicholas
Lazar, Eugen Gabriel
Lee, Gary
Leon, Jorge Luis
LeVeen, Jeffrey E
Lichtschein, Edward
Lillianthal, Steven
Logler, Elizabeth
Loguidice, Catherine
Lunden, Michael Patrick
Lutnick, Gary
Luzzicone, Linda
Lygin, Alexander
Lynch, Sean
Lynch, Sean Patrick
Mace, Robert F
Maler, Alfred Russell
Martello, James
Marti, Michael
Massaroli, Michael
Matricciano, Marcello
Mazzella Jr, Edward
Mazzotta, Jennifer
Mc Dermott, Matthew
McCarthy, Justin
McCarthy, Robert
McGuinn, Francis Noel
McKinney, Darryl L.
McNulty, Sean Peter
Meltzer, Stuart Todd
Mercurio, Ralph
Merdinger, Alan
Meyer, David R.
Milano, Peter
Miller, Michael
Miraille, Wilbert
Monahan, Franklyn
Monahan, John
Morales, Carlos M
Moroney, Dennis
Morris, Lynne I.
Morris, Seth
Mullin, Michael
Murolo, Marc A
Murphy, Brian
Murphy, Edward Charles
Murphy, James
Nazario, Francis
Nee, Luke
Nelson, Ann
Nelson, Michele Ann
Niederer, Martin
Nilsen, Troy
Nimbley, Paul
Noonan, Robert Walter
Novotny, Brian C.
Nunez, Brian
O'Brien, Timothy Michael
O'Doherty, Amy
Oneal, Seamus
Orsini, Ronald
Ostrowski, James
Oswald, Jason
Ouida, Todd Joseph
Owens, Jr., Peter J.
Palazzolo, Richard
Papa, Edward J.
Parakat, Vinod
Paris, George
Parks Jr., Robert Emmett
Parmar, Hashmukhrai "Hash"
Peak, Stacey
Pedicini, Thomas E
Pelletier, Michel
Peraza, Robert David
Perconti, Jr., Jon A
Perez, Angel
Perez, Angela Susan
Perez, Anthony
Perroncino, Joseph
Perrotta, Edward
Pesce, Danny
Peterson, Davin
Plumitallo, Joseph
Pocher, John
Polatsch, Laurence
Pollicino, Steve
Poulos, Richard
Preziose, Gregory "TOW"
Proctor III, Everett M ('Marty')
Quinn, James
Racaniello, Christopher A
Raines, Harry
Raub, William "Will" R.
Reidy, Gregg
Reina, Joseph
Reinig, Thomas
Reiss, Joshua
Reo, John Armand
Riverso, Joseph R
Robertson, Donald
Rocha, Antonio
Rohner, Scott
Romero, Elvin
Rosario, Angela
Rosenbaum, Brooke
Rosenbaum, Sheryl Rosner
Rosenberg, Lloyd
Rosenblum, Andrew I
Rosenthal, Richard
Rothberg, Michael
Ruggiere, Bart
Russin, Steven Harris
Ryook, Christina
Sacerdote, Joseph
Salamone, John P
Saloman, Wayne J
Sand, Eric
Sands Jr., James
Santillan, Maria Theresa C. (Maritess)
Sarle, Paul
Savinkin, Vladimir
Sbarbaro, John
Schertzer, Scott
Schreier, Jeffrey
Schwartz, John
Scibetta, Adriane
Sekzer, Jason M.
Sellitto, Matthew C.
Sessa, Adele C
Shah, Jayesh
Shahid, Khalid
Silver Ellis, Valerie
Simon, Michael John
Simone, Marianne
Skrzypek, Paul Albert
Slattery, Christopher
Slavin, Vincent (Vinnie) R.
Small, Wendy
Solares, Ruben
Spitz, William E
Stahlman, Eric A.
Starita, Anthony
Steinman, Alexander Robbins
Stergiopoulos, Andrew
Stewart, Jr., Richard H
Strada, Thomas
Straine Jr, James J
Strobert, Steven Frank "Strobie"
Sutton, Claudia
Swearson, Kristine
Swenson, Kenneth J.
Talhami, Robert R
Tanner, Michael Anthony ("Tiny")
Tempesta, Anthony
Thompson, Glenn
Trant, Daniel
Travers, Walter
Uliano, Michael A
Uman, Jonathan
Upton, Allen
Vaccacio, John Damien
Vale, Ivan
Van Auken, Kenneth W
Varacchi, Frederick
Vazquez, Santos
Vignola Jr, Frank J
Vitale, Joshua
Wallens, Matthew Blake
Walsh, James (Jim)
Warner, Brian
Waters, Charles
Weingard, Scott "Scotty" J.
Wells, Vincent
West, Peter
White, Adam Shelby
Willett, John
Wisniewski, Frank T. "Paul"
Wittenstein, Michael
Wodenshek, Christopher
Woods, James J
Wright, Neil Robin
Zaccoli, Joseph
Zeplin, Marc
For most in America, life returned to normal within months of 9/11; but for the thousands who lost someone close to them at Cantor Fitzgerald that day, life will never be the same.
Sources:
http://www.cantorfamilies.com/cantor/jsp/index.jsp
http://www.cantor.com/articles/cantor/rel12022001.html
http://magazine.carleton.ca/2002_Winter/628.htm