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September 6, 2006
Thoughts on 9/11
I am certainly not the only person who will be blogging about the fifth anniversary of this unspeakable act against humanity. I simply have a few observations of a personal nature.
First, I am grateful that my wife Roz, who was in the World Trade Center at her firm, Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, during the 1993 bombing had retired after the birth of our third child in 1996. More than 70 of her former colleagues died on September 11, including the son of her boss, John Duffy. Chris Duffy had just graduated from college and was working on the trading desk on that fatal morning. The Keefe employees, past and present, gather each year at the Central Park Zoo to commemorate their fallen comrades. This company demonstrates its values by keeping its promises to the families of the deceased through a college scholarship program and other initiatives.
Second, I am pleased that Howard Lutnick, chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald and our former client, has been recognized as an upstanding and decent man committed to his employees and his company. There was a rush to judgment by the media in the wake of his decision to stop paying salaries at the end of the year 2001 to the families of the 700 Cantor people murdered at the World Trade Center. He did this so that he could keep the company afloat. He did commit to a profit sharing scheme that would make the families effectively partners in the future success of the firm. Although at the time he probably should have been more transparent about the company's financial condition, the media has since credited Lutnick for his determination to take care of the extended Cantor family by distributing a substantial portion of each year's earnings to the families and for his personal involvement as surrogate father. I also want to thank again all of the Edelman staffers who volunteered to organize and staff an information and grieving center for Cantor people at the Pierre Hotel in New York for the 10 days following the tragedy.
Third, I am happy to report that Lower Manhattan is on the way back. The foundation work has been completed for the Freedom Tower and for the Memorial. The Seven World Trade building has been completed and is leasing now. A new campaign, "This Is 2010; It’s Happening Now," has been launched by the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center (disclosure: this work done by our firm), featuring the important structures to be completed by that date, such as the Transportation Center, the West Street renovation and the South Ferry Terminal. The Deutsche Bank building, contaminated by debris from the collapsing buildings and covered with a black curtain, is being demolished over the next 12 months. A year ago, a pedestrian would have been profoundly depressed by the Ground Zero scene but today, with 10 cranes engaged in the construction process (over $20 billion to be spent on public works), one can feel a real change in attitude, a light at the end of a long tunnel. One needs only to pass by at the morning rush hour to see the commuters streaming out of the PATH train station and subways, hustling to their jobs, chatting about their lives, to see that we are nearly back to normal.
I wrote a note to Edelman people from Omaha on September 11. I was stranded there at a Warren Buffet golf tennis outing for CEOs. I said that our goal should be to frustrate those who seek to change our way of life by continuing to work and to behave in a normal way. I asked each of them to go home that night and to explain to their families our determination to move forward, to go to school, to travel to clients, to refuse to panic. We have passed the real test of 9/11 by proving that business can indeed be family and that a community like Lower Manhattan is too resilient to die.
Posted by Edelman at September 6, 2006 5:34 PM
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Comments
It's great to see your comments on the 9/11 anniversary, Richard. Your leadership helped many people during that time -- clients and colleagues alike.
Let's also take a moment to remember the life of Suria Clarke, a colleague in Edelman's financial practice (of which I am a proud alumnus), who joined Cantor Fitzgerald's media-relations group just a few months before the tragedy. Suria was smart, energetic, witty and an immensely effective PR person. She is missed greatly.
I also agree that Howard Lutnick is now gaining well deserved acknowledgement for restoring Cantor Fitzgerald's business and helping the firm's families recover from a loss that, even now, is hard to fully grasp. I have often said (both privately and to the media five years ago as his spokesman) that no one but Howard could lead the firm back after "standing at hell's doors," as he described it in BusinessWeek recently.
Posted by: Richard Mahony at September 12, 2006 10:50 AM
Rich
I went to the Keefe Bruyette and Woods commemorative ceremony last night in Central Park. I watched the bereaved family members light candles for each of the 67 colleagues who died on 9/11. I want to thank you again for your stalwart support of Howard and the Cantor team in the face of screeching reporters and angry family members. All the best
Posted by: Richard Edelman at September 12, 2006 4:35 PM