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Updated: 09/11/06



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"The Confusion"
by Neal Stephenson

september 11th

remember


Monday, 11 September, 2006

ANDREW STERN, Age 45

Andrew Stern


Andrew Stern, 45, of Bellmore, N.Y., a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, worked on the 104th floor of 1 World Trade Center. A huge New York Yankees fan, Stern helped coach his son's Little League team and took his son to Yankees games. Stern usually rose at 4 a.m. to go to the gym before work. An avid runner and solid athlete, he ran in the New York City Marathon.

(From USA Today )

I didn't know Andrew Stern personally - and I'm sorry I didn't. It sounds like he was a wonderful husband and father and a good friend to many. His company, Cantor Fitzgerald, was located just above my firm's floors in One World Trade Center.

There was a tribute written about Andy on September 17, 2001:

The friendship that would later blossom into marriage began about 15 years ago at a copy machine in the offices of what was then Dean Witter, somewhere around the 60th floor of Tower Two of the World Trade Center.

Andrew Stern was a trader and his future wife had just begun a job as a sales assistant. Both were from Long Island -- he from Lynbrook, she, Merrick.

"My first couple of days, all I was doing was making photocopies,” Katie Stern recalled yesterday. "I remember he used to always come over to the copy machine with a stack of papers and we would talk. We became good friends.”

Such good friends that Andrew Stern risked his mother's anger when he skipped out on his father's birthday dinner for a first date on March 28, 1987.

Tuesday, Stern was working on the 104th floor of Tower One when a hijacked passenger jet slammed into it at 8:45 a.m. "Our life started there and unfortunately ended with those towers,” Katie Stern said.

Andrew Stern worked as a broker in the municipal bond department of Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that lost an estimated 700 employees.

Stern's body was recovered from the collapsed remains of the building, and Nassau County police officers arrived at the Sterns' Bellmore home at midnight Friday with the news.

"As odd as it sounds, we were all somewhat relieved when they found him,” said Stern's sister, Lisa Burch, of Brooklyn. The family had filed a missing-person's report and made the rounds of city hospitals with his photo.

Stern was an athletic man, up by 4 a.m. for a workout at the gym before arriving at his desk by 7:30. He enjoyed the challenges of his job and had worked on Wall Street since his graduation from Hofstra University in 1982. He graduated from East Rockaway High School in 1978.

He made it a priority to be home from work in the evenings to be with his two children. He helped coach the Little League team of his 7-year-old son, Danny, and the two often went to Yankees games. Stern was looking forward to what would have been 4-year-old Emma's start in soccer on Saturday.

Stern liked to work around the house, proudly showing friends and family the new driveway he completed or a yard project. "He was just a wonderful, wonderful person,” his wife said. "I fell more in love with him every year.”

In addition to his wife, two children and sister, Stern is survived by his mother, Barbara Stern of Lynbrook, and a brother, Michael Stern of Ridge.

His friends got together in the fall of 2002 to hold the inaugural "Andy's Outing", a golf event to raise money for his family. I hope it was the first of many.

[We will never forget.]

2,996 Project


The 2,996 Project.

2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.

We will honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.

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