Travel was not usually part of his work; this was a one-day trip at short notice, away from his new wife and the house they were building. A weightlifter with a Superman tattoo who liked fast cars and good wine, and a tough older brother to his three siblings.

Killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on the morning of 11 September 2001. The aircraft had left Newark forty-two minutes late, which is the only reason those aboard learned by telephone what had already happened in New York before theirs was taken. They had about thirty minutes. They voted, and they went forward at the cockpit door. The aircraft never reached what it was aimed at.