Today marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, one of the most tragic events in US history. Thousands of people lost their lives as a result of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.
Modern.az recalls that one of the people who accidentally escaped death that day and rose to a high position in the US administration years later is currently the country's Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick was supposed to be in the office of Cantor Fitzgerald financial company, located in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, on September 11, 2001. However, that morning he had taken his son Kyle to his first day of kindergarten. This was why he was late for work.
Lutnick later recalled that the delay saved his life. If he hadn't taken his son to school, he would most likely have been in the company's office in the North Tower.
When the plane crashed into the North Tower, Cantor Fitzgerald's offices were located above the part of the skyscraper where the plane crashed, and none of the company's employees on those floors could be saved during the tragedy.
As a result of the tragedy, a total of 658 employees of Cantor Fitzgerald died. Among them was Lutnick's brother, Harry. During the September 11 tragedy, the company lost approximately two-thirds of its 960 employees in New York. Lutnick lost not only his brother that day, but also his friends and hundreds of people he had worked with for years. After the tragedy, he faced two difficult tasks: rebuilding the company and helping the families of his employees.
Instead of shutting down the company, Lutnick decided to rebuild it. He later said that the company had two choices during those days: either attend the funerals of his friends, or keep the company afloat and help the families of the deceased employees. He allocated 1 million dollars from his personal funds and created the “Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund” charity.
The company, in turn, undertook to give 25 percent of its profits to the families of the deceased employees for five years and to provide medical insurance to their relatives for 10 years. The total amount of aid was approximately 180 million dollars.
The aid did not end there. Cantor Fitzgerald kept the memory of the September 11 victims alive by holding a charity event every year in subsequent years. The activities of the aid fund created later began to cover not only those affected by terrorist acts, but also people affected by natural disasters and other emergencies.
In Lutnick's life after September 11, personal loss and business recovery became inseparable. According to him, that tragedy changed the entire history of the company.
Today, that person - Howard Lutnick - holds the position of Secretary of Commerce in the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Lutnick's life story on September 11 draws particular attention: he survived that day because he took his son to school, lost his brother and 657 colleagues, and then became responsible for the fate of the collapsed company and hundreds of families. On the 25th anniversary of September 11, this story also reminds us that the tragedy is not just about statistics.
It should be recalled that 2977 people died during the events of September 11, 2001.
