Tight Knit, Hard Hit

In Nassau commuter belt, bearing pain together

By John Hildebrand | STAFF WRITER

September 16, 2001

Explaining something as horrific as the World Trade Center's destruction is difficult enough, especially when talking to children. But how do you explain that one victim of those attacks is the man many children thought of as Santa Claus?

That's the way many people remember Ed Schunk, a burly, big-hearted man who has suited up as Santa each year for family Christmas parties. Friends and family still wonder how to deal with children's questions as they await word of Schunk, and dozens of others from Baldwin, Rockville Centre and communities nearby, who vanished in Tuesday's inferno.

"They're asking, 'How's Uncle Eddie?' " said one longtime friend, Ron Frost of Rockville Centre. He and his wife, Helen, were among scores of people who gathered Friday at a local golf club where Schunk is a three-time champion, both to pay tribute to the missing and to generate publicity in hopes of hastening their recovery.

Hours later, word arrived of one of those victims, and the news was not good. The body of Andrew Stern, 41, a broker from Bellmore, had been found in Manhattan. He leaves a wife, Katie, and two children, Danny, 7, and Emma, 4. A funeral is planned for 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at Boulevard Riverside Chapel funeral home, 1450 Broadway, in Hewlett.

Grim though it was, the midnight message delivered by police to Stern's family provided some relief. "We all kind of thought they'd never be found, and that we'd wonder what happened forever," said his sister, Lisa Burch.

Bellmore, Rockville Centre and other tight-knit, commuter-belt communities have been hard hit by last week's terrorist attacks. Those who showed up for Friday's tribute brought with them photos and descriptions of 18 victims, most of whom lived in the area and worked as New York City firefighters, police officers or bond brokers. Even as memorial candles were lighted and tears brushed away, much of the talk was of family members who had served together in fire rescue units or celebrated basketball wins at nearby South Side High School.

Schunk, 54, is a broker who worked on the 105th floor of the Trade Center's north tower, the first to be hit by a hijacked jet. Stern worked one floor below. Both were employed by Cantor Fitzgerald, a major trader of government bonds, which lost an estimated 700 employees in the attack.

Many Cantor Fitzgerald brokers live in Rockville Centre or golf together at the local Rockville Links club, and personal networks run strong. At Friday's tribute, many recalled that Stern's mother, Barbara, had worked 20 years as a personnel administrator in the local school system.

"This town's so connected, it's unbelievable," said Helen Frost.

Because of those links, some of last week's losses were doubly tragic. Donald McIntyre, 38, a Port Authority police officer, had rushed over to the Trade Center's south tower shortly after it was struck by the second plane. His mission: to find John Sherry, 34, a broker from Rockville Centre, whose wife, Maureen, better known as Missy, is McIntyre's cousin.

"And we haven't heard from either one of them," said Maureen's mother, Cathy McIntyre. The Sherrys have two sons, James, 4, and John, 2.

Community ties did ensure that help arrived swiftly. Within hours of the tragedy, relatives of the missing in Rockville Centre received so many offers of coffee, casseroles and cold-cut platters from neighbors that some had to turn food away.

The next day, some of those same families received surprise visits from Eugene Murray, the village mayor. Among homes on the visiting list was that of Mary Wieman, 43, an insurance broker missing in the collapse. Mary and her husband, Marc, have three children, ages 12, 8 and 6.

"I have no idea how he got the word," Marc Wieman said.