Edelmiro Abad

Killed at the World Trade Center on the morning of 11 September 2001. The first aircraft struck the north tower at 8:46 and the second the south tower at 9:03; the south tower came down at 9:59 and the north at 10:28. Two thousand seven hundred and fifty-three people were killed there.

Senior vice president at Fiduciary Trust International, on the ninetieth floor of the south tower. He had been with the firm twenty-six years and was there for the bombing of 1993 as well.



He was born at Moncalvillo in the province of Burgos to Ascension and Jacinto Abad, and came to the United States at seven with his parents and his brothers and sisters. He grew up in Brooklyn and stayed there. From 1967 to 1968 he served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War.



He married Lorraine, and they had three daughters - Rebecca, Jennifer and Serena - who were the light of his life. His parents lived with them. He took the family back to Spain to show them the country and his people there.



All three girls danced, and he was at every recital and every competition. His wife remembered the other side of that: if there was a male voice calling for one of the girls, he'd get chest pains. The boyfriend issue was big.



He liked war films, walks along Shore Road at Bath Beach, and the tomatoes his parents grew in the back garden - he would hardly go a few days without them through the summer and took them along on the family holidays. He never forgot a birthday or an anniversary. His family called him charming, caring, sentimental and sincere.



When the second aircraft struck the south tower it hit below him. He was still inside when it came down.



He was killed two days before his fifty-fifth birthday.

His wife Lorraine and his daughters Rebecca, Jennifer and Serena.