Building Foundation honors WTC victims at Nov. 21 event.

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 Sept. 11, 2001. during a WTC memorial breakfast held on Nov. 21.

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 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 Sept. 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 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 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. "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.