New York Building Foundation Honors Memory of 166 Building Industry Members Who Perished on 9/11/01

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NEW YORK, November 21, 2002 – The New York Building Foundation,
a charitable affiliate of the New York Building Congress, presented
crystal workplace memorials to the 26 design and construction organizations
that lost employees or members on September 11, 2001, during a WTC
Memorial Breakfast held today at the Regent Wall Street Hotel.

A total of 166 men and women employed in the building trades, engineering,
architecture and other building disciplines were lost in the tragic
attack on America and New York City. The largest losses were sustained
by 17 unions, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and
Washington Group International.

The Building Foundation designed and produced a separate crystal
memorial plaque for each of the companies, agencies and unions involved.
Each memorial was inscribed with the names of the employees/members
who perished from that organization. The memorials, displayed prior
to the breakfast, were officially presented to each organization
during the morning’s program. Family members, some of whom were
present at the event, are being given paper replicas of the appropriate
memorial as a keepsake.

Richard T. Anderson, President of the New York Building Foundation
and the New York Building Congress, opened the program by saying,
"This industry has always been known for generosity and civic
involvement, but I have never seen it contribute so much so willingly
than in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001. The
Building Foundation’s World Trade Center Memorial Fund is truly
a labor of love that is funneling not just money but support for
the larger building community from all sectors throughout the Country
and the world."

John F. Hennessy III, Chairman of the New York Building Foundation,
introduced each of the organizations that received memorials saying,
"These unions, companies and agencies experienced very personal
losses on September 11 that have changed them forever. In many ways
it has made them, and all of us in the industry, more determined
to do whatever we can to help the City not only recover but grow
in prominence and strength. The losses our colleagues have suffered
is serving to unify our industry and spur us all to greater accomplishments
than we could have imagined prior to the tragedy of September 11,
2001."

The keynote speakers were Joseph J. Seymour, Executive Director of
the Port Authority, and Edward J. Malloy, President of the Building
& Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, an organization
that represents 200,000 skilled workers in the City’s building unions.

Said Seymour, "Eighty-four members of the Port Authority lost
their lives in the attack, including my predecessor and friend Neil
Levin." He noted that many who perished did so in the line
of duty, including six Port Authority police officers who were helping
a woman who could not walk. He also praised his colleagues’ work
over the past 15 months, noting "the quiet heroics of those
who were fortunate enough to survive and went right back to work."

Malloy said that the building trades will rebuild Lower Manhattan
in honor of its 63 brothers and sisters who perished on September
11. "Someone said to me that rebuilding is part of healing.
We have to rebuild. It’s a legacy we leave to the 63 people we lost.
Let them be reassured that we, as an industry, will leave nobody
behind. Nobody will ever be forgotten.

In the days and months after the World Trade Center attack, the
New York Building Foundation raised more than $350,000 from member
employees, firms, and other industry colleagues for its World Trade
Center Memorial Fund. A large majority of the fund was then distributed
directly to surviving family members of building industry workers
and uniformed personnel who perished on September 11, 2001.

The New York Building Foundation, an affiliate of the New York
Building Congress, was formed in 1998 to augment the long-term growth
and well being of the industry through a program of research, educational
and philanthropic activities.

 

The New York Building Congress is a membership coalition of business, labor, association and government organizations promoting the design, construction and real estate industry in New York City.