Portraits of Grief: Victims of 9-11

New York Times ^ | 12-08-01 and everyday since 9-11 | Many NY Times Reprters

[Pharmboy]

The NY Times, the paper we Freepers love to hate (and with good reason) does do some things with a thoroughness and attention to detail that few other papers have the resources or inclination to accomplish.

Since 9-11, they have allocated at least one, and, as today, sometimes two full pages with capsule bios of the victims and with a picture of each. The following are several from today.

Keith Glascoe
Kathryn Anne Shatzoff
Aaron Jacobs
Gerard Jean Baptiste
Gary Bright
Thelma Cuccinello
John DiFato
Marianne MacFarlane
Christopher Quakenbush
Gayle Green
Mary Jo Kimmelman
Yudh Jain
Michel P. Colbert
Edward Keane
Eric B. Evans
Christopher Zarba

[Pharmboy]

This is the only thing I can think of that the Times has done that I personally would recommend that they get a Pulitzer.

Seeing the faces and hearing the dreams and accomplishments of these people day after day has kept me--and I assume many other readers--quite focused.

[Pharmboy]

I gotta bump this so all you Saturday morning folks see it.

[litany_of_lies]

Hats off to the Times. I can only take so many portraits before I turn into blubbering jello.

It would be nice if the editorial staff kept these names, faces, accomplishments, and dreams shattered in mind when they make their editorial decisions and write their opinion columns.

[Pharmboy]

Great point.

There has been some evidence in the past year or so that the news side of the Times is moving towards the center; the editorialists, however, remain on the far, far left.

[GretchenEE]

One of the people named above:

Christopher Quackenbush: `Christmas Carol' All Year

Most people think of "A Christmas Carol," the Charles Dickens classic, only during the holidays. But the tale of greed and redemption was on Christopher Quackenbush's mind his entire life.

As a founding principal at Sandler O'Neill & Partners, Mr. Quackenbush, 44, thrived on sharing his wealth. He created the Jacob Marley Foundation, which provides scholarships and programs for poor children on Long Island, including annual trips to Shea Stadium for Mets games. The Mets themselves once played Tiny Tim to Mr. Quackenbush's Scrooge: he flew some team members to Washington on his company jet last June to meet President Bush.

In keeping with the story that haunted him, Mr. Quackenbush's generosity peaked at Christmas. "He would give us all a trip somewhere," his sister, Gail, said. "A ticket to whatever we really wanted to do."

Not only that, but Mr. Quackenbush took his wife, Traci, their three children and a throng of relatives to see "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden every December, reminding them not only of the importance of spreading good fortune, but of having fun doing it. They have resolved to go without him this year. "We're not going to have a good time," Gail Quackenbush said, "but we're trying."

[Classicaliberalconservative]

I read the New York Times everyday Pharmboy, opposition research. But seeing the mini biographies of all these people is really sad and touching. Putting a face and a story to the people who died, many of them neighbor who otherwise would be nameless strangers.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for posting this one. I wish I knew how to pull pictures up.

This will be one tough Christmas for his friends and family. Boyoboy.

[TiaS]

I saw the author of these articles quite recently on C-SPAN's Washington Journal. Still, I have lingering thoughts and questions about how this could happen in America and wonder why we didn't see military immediately dispatched to the area of the Trade Center -- I mean by the hundreds. If, as the President said, this is war, why did New York City's Firefighters and Policemen have to fight it -- where was the military?

Quite soon after we are bombing a fourth world country with a literacy rate of 12%. If we in this country cannot figure out what this is all about, how can we expect those innocent Afghans to know?

Next we hear that this is all being settled in Bonn, Germany, of all places, by people most of us have never heard of. The attack was on America, wasn't it?

[Classicaliberalconservative]

The military was not set in immdeiatley because many, including me, thought that it was a small incident involving a prop plane. Besides originally many thought the buildings could be salvaged. I was in class when they collapsed.

[GretchenEE]

I wish I knew how to pull pictures up

Dear Pharmboy, your life just got a lot easier.

To post a pic that is already posted on the Internet:

Right click on the photo you want to post on FR
Select PROPERTIES
HIGHLIGHT by double clicking, and COPY [Control+C] the "ADDRESS URL" (it will look something like this: http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20011208/thumb.1007831837bush_afghan_kids_pmm103.jpg )
In the FR REPLY box, type this:
<img src=""http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20011208/thumb.1007831837bush_afghan_kids_pmm103.jpg">
Preview, then post if the photo shows up in the preview

You may wonder why the photo shown at the bottom, whose URL I used to describe the process, didn't show up in the example of how to post it, but it did show up under the example of how to post it. It's because I used the keystroke commands to make the < and > signs rather than using the < and > themselves, which nullified the HTML commands.

To make the process easier to remember, I believe the "img src" stands for "image source". Go ahead, give it a try!

[GretchenEE]

Your post at #8 leaves me wondering where you are coming from. I checked some of your other recent posts on FR and still can't figure it out.

Why wasn't the military dispatched immediately? It was dispatched very quickly. Didn't you see the extra troops stationed with automatic weapons and tanks in DC shortly after the attacks? Nobody told the poor firemen and policemen and EMS personnel that the first jet was an act of war. For crying out loud, no one really knew it was an act of war till the second plane hit, and by then, it was too late to do much about it. Those police and firefighters were already committed to try to save the WTC workers. The National Guard didn't have time to step in and haul the emergency workers out so they could die in their places, leaving thousands of innocent citizens stranded during the shift change.

We are bombing Afghanistan because that is where our intelligence information tells us the masterminds of the war attacks are living. This should not be difficult for anyone who reads Internet news, such as Free Republic, to ascertain. In WW2, the Allies fought their way to Hitler, and the European war ended.

If we in this country cannot figure out what this is all about, how can we expect those innocent Afghans to know?

Who said we can't figure out what this is all about? I'd say President Bush, his entire administration, and at least nine out of ten Americans know what this is about.

Next we hear that this is all being settled in Bonn, Germany, of all places, by people most of us have never heard of. The attack was on America, wasn't it?

It is not being settled in Bonn. The Allies are trying to help Afghanis forge a new, Taliban-free government, which it looks like is not going to any easy task. Leaving Afghan to the warlords is asking for another round of Al-Qaida attacks on America. No thanks. The Afghanis have lived under an extremely oppressive Taliban rule for many years. They need and are welcoming outside help to bring peace, stability, order, and some form of sensible self-government to their nation.

[Pharmboy]

GretchenEE: I did it! Thanks for your help.

Kathryn Anne Shatzoff: When not Collecting, Giving

Kathryn Anne Shatzoff was not a collector, really, but her husband, Neil, the owner of a comic book shop, was. So a few years ago, he got her started collecting Barbie dolls.

He gave her an "I Love Lucy" doll as a gift, and now he's lost count of all the fancy dolls in their Riverdale home.

"We ran out of shelf space," said Mr. Shatzoff, chuckling.

In fact, Mrs. Shatzoff had carried a torch for Barbie since childhood, said her mother, Anne Davidson. A Manhattan native, Mrs. Shatzoff, 37, was an assistant in the risk management division of Marsh & McLennan, but spent a lot of her free time doing crafts and buying gifts for other people — no occasion necessary.

"She was the kind of person that would talk you into wanting something, just so she could go and buy it for you," said her husband.

Christmas, Mrs. Shatzoff's favorite holiday, will not be the same this year.

"I used to surprise her with stuff," said Mr. Shatzoff. "Every Christmas, we'd say, let's not buy each other anything, it's too much."

But then he would buy gifts for her anyway. And even though he did it every year, every year she was still surprised.

And she did the same for him.

[GretchenEE]

Waaaaay 2 Go!

[GretchenEE]

Michel P. Colbert: More Than a Good Résumé

Michel P. Colbert had the ideal résumé, the kind that might appear in a how-to book about résumés. A master's degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. A succession of lucrative jobs in Paris, London and Milan. Fluency in French and Spanish. A balanced range of interests, from photography to scuba diving.

"I have developed proprietary mathematical models for yield curve analysis, embedded basis options," he wrote, in the resume that helped him secure a job as a high-level bond trader with Cantor Fitzgerald.

But did Mr. Colbert really talk like that? No. And does his résumé completely reflect who he was? Of course not.

Michel Colbert was, more than anything else, the only child of Raymond and Marie Colbert. The parents were so close to their son that all three lived in the same apartment building in West New York, N.J., and ate dinner together just about every other night, said Raymond Colbert. "And weekends, of course. And holidays."

He was 38 years old. His parents are both 79. And now time crawls. "Only child, you know?" said Raymond Colbert. "We are [Apartment] 16- C; he was 18-G."

[Pharmboy]

A Firefighter

Keith Glascoe: Big Man, Big Heart

Keith Glascoe was a big man — roughly 6-foot-4, 270 pounds — but maybe the biggest thing about him was his heart. "He was the sort who would stop and pick up a hurt animal in the street, take it to a doctor and pay for it," said his father, Benjamin Glascoe.

Given his size, football was inevitable. He started playing organized ball when he was 8 and twice made it to the New York Jets training camp. The second time, he was injured, but he played for a year in Italy, and learned to speak excellent Italian.

Back in New York, he caught the acting bug. Soon, there he was doing commercials and appearing on "One Life to Live," "Law and Order" and "100 Centre Street." He also had a part in the TV movie "Assault on Devil's Island," but the best of all was playing Benny in the movie "The Professional."

He married Veronica Squef, and he yearned for a more regular job. His kindly nature meshed perfectly with the Fire Department, and he joined Ladder Company 21. Naturally, he played on the department's football team.

Firefighter Glascoe, 38, lived in Brooklyn with his wife and their two children, Nolan, 3, and Owen, 15 months. Ms. Squef is expecting a third child in April.

Off duty, he continued to go to casting calls. But his sons had discovered modeling, and so Firefighter Glascoe had a new role escorting them to their own auditions.

[TiaS]

Your comments pretty well speak for themselves.

[csvset]

I read that the NY Times is ending the portrait of grief feature.

I'll post the link. Just click on a date, itwill bring up the profiles that were featured that day.

I'm not sure if they'll archive this.

Portraits of Grief